Forget Me Not
by HiKari Mokuba's Guardian
Summary: Sequel to"Mother, May I?"History has a way of repeating itself and Steven finds himself as a perfect model of that as he is held captive. Seto will stop at nothing to get him back. Little does he know how many are willing to stop him from saving his son.
1. Prologue: The Stranger

**You've watched Seto's life fall apart as he goes through nine months of pain, suffering, but in the end; joy. You've read about the aftermath of a decision, and realized that the past always comes back to haunt you. Or in this case, takes a journey across Japan to find you. You can even say that you have survived two of HiKari Mokuba's Guardian stories, and that you're only reading this one for the food. Well, prepare to be prepared for the story of the century! ****HiKari Mokuba's Guardian happily presents a story about the past, the present, and one boy whom changes it all. The sequel to "Mother, May I?" This is "Forget Me Not."**

* * *

_Prologue: The Stranger _

Long ago, when the pyramids were still young, Egyptian kings played a game of great and terrible power. But these shadow games erupted into a war that threatened to destroy the entire, until a brave and powerful pharaoh locked the magic away, imprisoning it within the mystical Millennium items.

But before any of that happened, Egypt was a chill and peaceful place for their new pharaoh and his series of guardians kept the country in check. His name was Atem, son of Aknamkanon, the former pharaoh. Out of all his trusted guardians, there was one that stood out the most, one whose life was about to change forever. His name was Seth, son of Aknadin, brother of Aknamkanon.

Seth looked around cautiously before entering the main corridor of the palace. At this time, everyone in the palace should be getting ready to go to bed, but Seth always found himself being more and more cautious every time he snuck his way out. The exit was up ahead, and a smile grew on his face. He was going to make it, he was going to successfully make it out of the-

"Seth?" Seth froze. Of course, who could that have possibly been? Seth turned around to face Mana whom stood behind him; her nightgown was on already. "What are you doing?" She asked in a high-pitched voice. Seth wanted to ask her if she could possibly speak any louder, but decided against it.

"Nothing, I'm just getting some air," Seth lied. He didn't feel bad about it though, whatever got Mana away the quickest, which usually wasn't a problem considering she was quite a clueless person in general. "Shouldn't you be stalking Mahado or something anyway?"

Mana was a magician-in-training, and had been under Mahado's wing for a while now. Seth was still baffled as to how Mahado could possibly deal with her, in most cases Seth found her to be childish and slightly hyper. But Mana had been a close friend of Mahado and Atem's since they had been kids, so it wasn't surprising that Mahado decided to teach her spells when she had decided to become a magician.

"Mahado finished his lesson for the day, besides, it's bed time."

"Right, like you had to remind me…" Seth muttered under his breath.

"What?"

"Nothing, good night!" Seth said, brisk fully making his way out of the palace and into the darkness of the village. Egypt was a very dark place at night, but this didn't bother Seth. He was always prepared, keeping his millennium rod tucked into the sling around his waist at all times. Most knew the power of the millennium items and usually kept their distance from anyone whom held the title to obtain one.

At the moment, though, none of this mattered since Seth was now standing in front of a slightly run down hut with a smile on his face. Looking around, he fitted his priest hat just right and brushing off some dust on his gown before walking in.

"Kisara…" He whispered in a loving voice, looking around the room. Seth spotted a fire in the next room over. "Kisara… hey…" he said softly once again, entering the room. Kisara sat on her bed, his face looking down at the ground.

"Hey Seth…" she said in a quiet voice. Seth knelt down, bringing his face down to her level before kissing her.

"Kisara… are you alright?" Seth asked. Kisara shrugged, looking away at the candle that was lit on a stool.

"Seth… I think I'm pregnant."

"What?"

"…I'm pregnant, Seth…" Seth blinked and tried to make a connection in his head.

"Like… with a child?"

"Yes!" Now Seth was the one to look down at the ground in despair.

"Oh… are you sure?" Kisara shrugged.

"I haven't exactly had… my time of the month, in about two months." Seth sighed in frustration.

"If only there were some sort of device that you could use to figure out whether you were really pregnant or not…"

"Seth, this really isn't the time. What are we going to do?" Seto got up and sat down beside her on the bed. Seth hadn't expected this to happen, nor did he wish it to. His relationship with Kisara had been a secret for almost a year now, knowing that the pharaoh's counsel wouldn't have approved of a high priest and a peasant girl to be together. But now there would be evidence, evidence that could ruin him. Seth looked back over at Kisara.

Their eyes looked up and met, even in the faintest of the candlelight, and there was a spark. It seemed that in their darkest hour, it was still apparent that their love would shine through all of that. Seth reached over and grasped Kisara's hand in his.

"I know what you must do…" Kisara said, a darkness consuming her bright blue eyes. She was fully aware of Seth's title in Egypt and knew that he wouldn't be able to raise a child; it had already been hard enough to see each other as often as they did.

"No, we'll have this child. And I'll help you raise it." Kisara's eyes sparkled with hope and happiness.

"Really? You will? But how?"

"I'll raise him up to be the royal Pharaoh's servant! That way he could be with me in the palace all day long and be under careful watch by the guards." Kisara smiled.

"You'd really risk your high priesthood for our child?"

"I'd risk everything for our child… and you." Kisara let out a giggle of happiness and jumped into Seth's arms.

"I love you!" she said excitedly. Seth wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back.

"I love you too, Kisara."

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the palace, Atem sat before a man whom was bent down with respect. "My great Pharaoh, this is a quite the kingdom that you have raised up."

"I thank you for your compliment, but what is it that you seek at such hours of the night?" The man got back up onto his feet, but kept his eyes hidden under his hooded robe.

"I seek your help, my great Pharaoh…" the man pulled down his hood and revealed his face. His light blue hair went all the way down his back and was tied in ponytail at the end, his green and yellow eye gleamed, even under the darkness of his hood. "My name is Dartz."

"What help do you seek, Dartz?" Atem asked, raising one eyebrow. Dartz got back up onto his feet and pulled down his hood, revealing his face.

"I seek shelter and food, Great Pharaoh, that is all that I request of you. My kingdom has been demolished and destroyed." Atem's eyes widened.

"Your kingdom?" The man nodded.

"My name is Dartz and I was once the king of a great civilization… have you ever heard of Atlantis, Pharaoh?"

"Atlantis?"

"Yes my Pharaoh, a fine country it once was… that is…" Dartz turned away for a moment, "Before the orichalcos came and tore my kingdom apart." Shimon, the Pharaoh's advisor and right hand man, looked over at Atem. Shimon could feel great power and great darkness within the man and wondered whether Atem could sense that as well. Unfortunately, it seemed Atem had not picked up this reading.

"I'm not exactly sure what you're talking about… but I'm sure it is a matter that can be discussed at a later time," Atem said with a wave of his hand, "You may stay in the palace for as long as you need."

"But Pharaoh…" Shimon muttered over to him. Dartz bowed before Atem.

"Thank you, great Pharaoh, you have shown me great kindness." Atem nodded, indicating that he was allowed to go. Dartz turned and left the room. Atem looked over at Shimon, whom had a very concerned look on his face.

"What troubles you, Shimon?"

"I sense great evil and great power within that man, Pharaoh, I'm not sure if it is good to let him stay within the palace walls…" Atem looked ahead at the doorway and thought for a moment. Shimon was usually never wrong when it came to bad feelings, but Atem felt sympathy towards the man. "Pharaoh…" Shimon said in a cautious voice, "Do not let your kindness be your downfall."

"I won't, Shimon," Atem got up to his feet, "He won't be here for long, besides… maybe we can find out more about that orichalcos he was talking about… if it could destroy his kingdom, it could destroy mine as well."

"I've heard of Atlantis, Pharaoh, and it is a city that was destined to fall to the darkness of its people. It says so in the stone that our ancestors left." Atem got up and stretched his arms and legs before starting down towards his sleeping corridors.

"I'll think about all that you have said, but for now he may stay. The pharaoh's had always spoke of showing kindness to those in need."

"Yes, but Pharaoh…"

"It'll be fine, Shimon." Shimon shook his head as Atem left the main room of the palace. Sometimes the pharaoh was blinded by his kindness for others, just as his father had always fallen victim too. Shimon use to be one of the sacred guardians under the rule of Aknamkanon, and had been very close to him up till his death. He had seen first hand how Aknamkanon's trust had lead to his own downfall, and couldn't bear the thought of Atem befalling the same fate. But maybe he was right, and maybe this Dartz fellow wasn't as evil as he had predicted.

* * *

Seth walked at a quick pace and with a small hand grasped within his, "Now Shu, when we get there, you must remember that you are not to speak of how you are my son… all you say is that you want to serve your country by serving your pharaoh." The small boy looked up at his father, his big gray blue eyes staring up with a wonder and awe.

"But father…"

"No Shu, I told you not to call me father. No one must know you're my son, okay?" Seth instructed in a stern voice. Shu became quiet, still clueless as to what was going on but wanting to avoid angering his father even more. He just wish he knew what was going on and what he was actually going to do at the palace.

When they arrived, Seth let go of Shu's hand, but still indicated that he follow him as he passed through various hallways to the main room. Shu had to run to catch up with his father, it seemed now Seth was simply running on nervous energy. Seth knew Shu resembled a lot of his father, and was worried the others might recognize the similarities between them. Never the less, he had promised Kisara that Shu would be safe and under his watchful eye, and this would be the only way to do so.

"Ah, Seth, there you are!" Shada announced as Seth entered the room. The other five guardians that stood in the room turned towards him as Seth moved in closer to where the pharaoh sat upon his throne. He observed solely at Shu, whom was trying to walk as closely behind Seth as possible in an effort to hide from all the sudden attention he was receiving.

"Say Seth, who is that child that is following you?" Isis asked, confused by the boy's sudden appearance.

"Great Pharaoh, I have brought this boy from the streets of our village," Seth nudged Shu to stand in front of him so that all of the guardians as well as the pharaoh could observe him, "He wishes to serve his country by being your personal servant boy." Atem titled his head to the side, staring at the small child that stood before him.

"Servant boy? Why would I need that?"

"Please Pharaoh, you must understand… this boy has no parents, and no family. Who knows how long he has been wandering the streets by himself for, I think he deserves a safe place to stay." It was apparent that the rest of the pharaoh's guardians were exactly buying this either, for each of them didn't believe this was a random act of kindness. Seth was very ruthless, and sometimes heartless at times, especially when dealing with criminals or ones whom could be suspected of treason.

And yet he brought forth this strange little boy, out of the blue, to live and work for the pharaoh. "Where is all this coming from, Seth? I think we can all agree this is not a normal act of kindness we would expect from you…" Karim stated, telling Seth the exact thing that was on everyone's minds. Seth paid no attention to any of them, his eyes were focused only on Atem and Atem alone.

"Please Pharaoh, let this boy work for you. You will see he is capable of great things. I beg of you to keep him here." Atem looked towards Shimon.

"What do you say, Shimon?"

"I don't see what trouble he could bring," Shimon said, shrugging.

"But do we really want a child running around the palace? This is not exactly a playground," Mahado said, glaring at Seth. Seth and Mahado usually found themselves in this position; always butting heads and disagreeing on most issues. Mahado and Seth made an effort to usually stay away from one another, but in meetings like these, they would find a way to clash.

"Mahado, I don't believe this is of your concern," Seth spat, glaring at the guardian.

"Of course it is of my concern," Mahado said, stepping forward, "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd rather not be babysitting any children. We have a country to run and protect." Atem raised his hand and the room fell silent.

"Mahado does have a point, but still," Atem's eyes fell back onto the small boy that stood in front of him, "If Seth says he is here to work, then we'll put him to work. I'm sure this boy won't be too much trouble. What is your name, my child?"

"Um… Shu, sir…" Atem smiled gingerly.

"Well, Shu, welcome to my palace. These are my six guardians; Isis, Shimon, Karim, Mahado, Shada, and Seth. There are all very close friends of mine, and if you are in any need of assistance, you can ask them for anything." Atem could see Mahado rolling his eyes and sighing loudly. "Now I'm sure you'll need a tour of the palace before you begin work… whom shall be the lucky one to show you around?"

Atem looked around the room, even though he was already planning to stick Shu under Mahado's wing for being so rude from the very beginning. But Seth stepped in before any decision could be announced, "My Pharaoh, I will take the liberty to show him around. After all, I do feel a sense of responsibility for him after picking him up from the streets." Atem relaxed back in his chair and shrugged.

"Very well then, Shu, you may stay with Seth for the day." Shu looked back over at Seth. Seth smiled; this was going perfectly. Shu would be safe and under his protection and no one would suspect a thing. It seemed as though he were in the clear from here on out, he couldn't wait to tell Kisara all about it that night.

* * *

It was in the dead of night and there's was only one soul that was awake at this time and making his way through the streets of Egypt at a quick pace. His millennium rod was tightly gripped in his hand already, and sweat was beginning to form on his forehead and drip down. He knew what he was about to do was treason, but after meeting with his father after so many years, he had realized what he wanted. What Seth had been born to do; he wanted to become the new pharaoh of Egypt.

He quickly turned a sharp corner and rushed into a small valley nearby. There he stood for a moment, waiting in the darkness as he quietly regained his breath. There was a stirring somewhere near him, and his senses became alert. His eyes spotted a dark figure in the distance, one that started walking towards him. Seth stood up straight, keeping his millennium rod by his side at all times.

"So you decided to show Seth…" the voice said in a surprised tone, "What made you change your mind?" Seth narrowed his eyes at the man.

"The usual; fame, power, glory." The man laughed quietly before stepping forward and revealing himself as Dartz.

"Well, you made the right choice."

"Great, now where is it?" Seth asked, wanting to hurry and get it over with. He knew that if anyone spotted him with Dartz, he would be doomed. Dartz grinned, but shook his head.

"Hold on now Seth… I can't just hand the orichalcos over to you without anything in exchanged…" Dartz said, the grin remaining on his face. Seth eyed him suspiciously.

"What exactly were you planning on having?" Seth asked.

"I want the boy…" At first Seth was confused as to what Dartz was talking about, and then suddenly, it hit him. He was talking about Shu.

"What do you want with him?" He said, now in a defensive tone. What would Dartz possibly want with his own son?

"There's no need to be so protective, Seth…"

"There must be something else you seek in exchange for the orichalcos!" Dartz looked down and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, but the only thing I seek and desire is that boy of yours…" Seth's eyes widened.

"You know…?"

"Yes Seth… and I could tell all of the Pharaoh's guardians of this too… maybe they'd like to hear about Kisara as well?" Seth's eyes filled with anger.

"You said you would give me power, not back stab me!" Now the grin on Dartz's face disappeared and was replaced with frustration. What was it going to take to make this guy go through with the deal?

"Look Seth… if you want power, if you want to be the Pharaoh, you're going to have to give up things in order to do that. You can't have a simply boy holding you back. If anyone found out about who he really was, it would ruin you. I suggest you hand him over to me before the situation gets dangerous. What do you say?" Dartz held out his hand, ready to seal the deal. Seth looked away.

"I'm not sure…" Dartz frowned.

"Look Seth… everything you ever wanted is right there for you. All I want is your boy…" Seth thought for a moment. He thought about his son, he thought about Kisara, and he thought about all the power he would receive in exchange. Although he loved his son dearly, greed had already managed to cloud Seth's mind of what was truly important. And in that moment, he sealed Shu's fate.

"Deal." Seth stated, taking Dartz's hand and shaking it. Dartz's grin returned in that moment, for now he could begin the reconstruction of his fallen kingdom and work his way towards creating a whole new utopia. The possession of that boy was the first step towards making that dream possible.

* * *

**A/N:** _Hey guys! Okay, so here we are with my third sequel… wow. I feel like this has really been quite a journey, and that I knew you all so well just from all your wonderful reviews! Well, I hope to get to know you more with yet another HiKari production! I'm sorry this chapter was so rushed and short, but there was only so much I could fit all into one chapter(although I'm sure you'll all be happy to know that I am going to lengthen my standard chapters from now on, so look forward to longer chapters! And I'll have you know I haven't changed my standard length of chapters in years, so consider this a historic moment) Anyways, so this was the prophecy Dartz was talking about, even though it wasn't totally explained. But don't worry, it'll be explained in much greater detail later on. Look forward to a fast update, I just needed to get over my 1 chapter hump, but now I am back BABY and I'm about to ROCK YOUR WORLD!_

_P.S: I just wanted to point out how silly and yet totally cute the name Shu was... oh my gosh, I loved it. Okay, anyways, review my pretties! And do give a round of applause for Becky the Sexy, she'll be co-politing some of my ideas and helping me develope ideas for all your story needs!:) See you next chapter!_


	2. Chapter 1: 4:56 pm

Journey maker: Oh my gosh, you have no idea how relieved I am to hear that you actually understand what's going on, cause for a while I wasn't even sure what was going on! But it brings me joy to know that you have. Thanks for the review, and here goes the second sequel!

Xblackrosefirex: That's a pretty good question! It's not going to switch from the present to the past for every chapter that was only for the prologue. But more will be explained as the story goes on, so don't worry. And yes, all the other characters from the last story will be in this story. Although you might not see all that much of Serenity, but I'm sure you can survive. Thanks for the review, enjoy the chapter!

AmePiper: Saying that my story is like a series of it's only really excites me to no end. I feel the exact same way too! But now that someone else feels that way, it's ten times cooler. And about finding time… dude, I'm not even sure how I find time. Like a good kid, I should be studying for tests and such like you, but it's like the exact opposite for me. I never find time to study, cause I'm so busy writing. Like, I can't stop writing. It hurts too much. Which isn't all that great for my grades(but you should've seen me try and put a limit on my writing… it didn't exactly last long) Anyways, thanks for leaving the review, even with such a busy schedule! I hope you like this chapter!

Rena Redhead: Yay! My first review response to you! I think… I'm not sure. Maybe. Anyhow, thanks for THEE fantastic review. I only wish I knew all the vast opportunities you speak of, but I believe you when you say it. But don't worry, this story will find a way to be good, I'm sure. With readers like yourself; there's no way I can go wrong! It's kind of like the heart of the cards… without a lame plotline. Thanks for the review sweetheart, here is your splendid chapter!

**Child:** 1) A human offspring of any age 2) The term may also define a relationship with a parent or authority figure 3) It can also signify being strongly affected by a specific time, place, or circumstance

Chapter 1: 4:56 p.m.

Seto shifted his eyes from the street that Dartz had turned and run off down to the eighteen-year-old boy that was swaying from side to side on his feet. His body was frozen, while his mind was racing with all kinds of thoughts and emotions. Mokuba had been shot. Not only that, but he had been shot protecting Seto. Protecting his older brother, the one that was supposed to be protecting him.

Mokuba's body finally began to give out on him, and he fell. Seto, finding new found and sudden strength, shifted his body and stretched out his arms. Mokuba was limp as he lay in Seto's lanky arms, Seto's big blue eyes looking down at him with worry.

"Mok… Mokuba…" Seto said softly, never moving his eyes. Mokuba forced himself to hold up his head and looked down at his wound. He slowly moved his hand and placed it over the wound, clutching it tightly. Blood began to seep through his fingers. Mokuba looked back up at Seto, giving him a faint smile.

"It's just… a flesh… wound…" Mokuba said; trying to chuckle but instead began to cough violently. Seto squeezed him tighter in his arms.

"Mokuba… you're going to be okay! I promise you, I won't let anything happen to you, I'll kill Dartz for what he did, I'll kill him slowly and painfully so that he will never forget the pain you suffered!" Seto said, speaking too fast for Mokuba to even follow. He could feel his life slowly begin to fade away from his body, and suddenly it hurt to keep himself awake.

Mokuba turned his head and closed his eyes, but Seto shook him with a little more force than intended. "Stay with me, Mokuba. Don't you dare die on me… I'm going to call an ambulance… I'm going to save you!" Seto yelled in a stern voice. Mokuba moaned and looked back up into his brother's eyes.

"I've never noticed… how blue… your eyes are…" Mokuba stated in a quiet voice that seemed to become fainter with every word, "They look like… the sky… just before… night… comes…"

"Mokuba, stop it. Stop talking like this. You're going to be fine!" Seto was talking as if he were trying to convince himself that Mokuba was going to be okay, but Mokuba knew better. He knew that the end was near, and his brother simply didn't want to face it. Seto shifted Mokuba in his arms, making it look as though Seto were cradling Mokuba as if he were an infant. Tears found their way to the brims of his eyelids as he looked down into his baby brother's face.

"I never thought… I'd… die before you…" Seto shook his head in protest.

"You're not going to die Mokuba… I told you that! I told you… I'm going to save you, Mokuba, I'm will save you!" Seto protested, the tears could not hold back any longer. They streamed down his face and trickled onto Mokuba's cheeks. "Why would you do that, Mokuba? Why did you save me? I was supposed to die! Not you! Why did you push me out of the way!?"

In the back round, the walkie-talkie that Yugi had given Seto was beginning to go off. Yugi's crackled voice over the device could be heard, asking Seto where his location was and if he was all right. Seto completely ignored all the calls, his eyes didn't move from Mokuba's. In those moments, nothing else mattered and no one else. It was just he and Mokuba, alone in the world, as they had always been growing up. They were everything they had, and everything they needed to be happy.

"Because…" Mokuba coughed a little before continuing, "Steven… needs you… more… than me…" Seto shook his head. This couldn't be happening, he wanted this whole thing to be a dream. Not only had he failed his son but also he had failed to protect his brother. His baby brother, whom he had sworn to protect and care for till the end of his life.

"That was for me to worry about Mokuba! That was for me… it was my responsibility to look out for him, not yours!" Seto slammed his fist on the ground, "You barely had a chance to live your own life!" Mokuba's body started shaking, it seemed as though was running out. The world started twisting and turning all around him, and the sky grew very dark. The only source of light, and it seemed, the only thing that wasn't moving was Seto's face, looking down at him with tears down his face.

"You'll… always… be… my…" Mokuba gave one last gasp for air as he closed his eyes and uttered his last word, "…Nii-sama…" Seto's heart stopped. Mokuba's body became limp, and cold in his arms. No… Seto didn't believe, nor wanting to believe, that he now held a dead body in his hands.

"Kaiba!" Yugi shouted from afar, the sounds of various motorcycles and police vehicles were heard nearby. Seto didn't move, and he didn't utter a sound. He just sat there, looking blankly at the ground. Yugi ran as fast as he could over to where Seto sat. "Kaiba! Are you-" Yugi stopped once he saw Mokuba laying in Seto's arms. "Oh God…"

"Get him to a hospital." Seto muttered.

"What?"

"GET HIM TO A HOSPITAL! CALL A DAMN AMBULANCE!" Yugi nodded and flipped out his phone. Seto slowly pushed himself up from the ground and stood on his own two feet, Mokuba still in his arms. He had made a promise that he intended to keep. Mokuba was going to be okay, he just had to be okay. Seto was going to save him no matter what it took.

* * *

"Yugi!" A voice called from the entrance of the hospital. Yugi turned to see Tea running towards him. Normally the sight of her would've brought a smile to his face, but there were more serious matters. Tea could tell by the grim look on his face that the scene was not looking too good. She came to a halt once she stood in front of Yugi. Her eyes shifted down to the ground. "How… how is he?" She asked, grabbing her arm.

Yugi shook his head. "Not too good… not good at all…" Tea frowned. The couple stood silently in each other's presence. "The doctor's say he's in a deep coma, and barely holding onto life… the probability of him living is… well…" Yugi didn't want to say anymore, Tea understood.

"How's… Kaiba?" Tea asked after a long moment of silence, although feeling slightly stupid for even asking. She could only imagine the pain Seto must've been going through. Yugi shook his head again.

"Even worse… I don't know who's suffering more… the little brother who's dying or the older brother who has to watch." Yugi and Tea both felt as though if anyone was hurting the most, it was Seto.

Only a couple hallways down from the lobby, Seto sat in an empty white room by himself. The room was just as blank as his facial expression. His body felt like it was numb, that the only thing really functioning in his body at this point was his brain. Even that was starting to short circuit though, and Seto wasn't really sure where he was anymore. All he knew was that he had failed his little brother, and he could lose him at any moment.

Seto slumped in his chair, looking up at the single light bulb in the room. He imagined smashing himself into the light bulb and gashing open his head. His eyes shifted from the light bulb to the doorway, imagining slamming it on his neck, and somehow wishing it would lead to his own death. All Seto could think about death, and how he would rather die than have Mokuba die.

Seto let his mind wander into a dimension where his brother was safe and sound in his arms, until he heard a chuckling coming from the room. His senses became alert once more and he sat up.

"Who's there?" He demanded, looking around the room. But there was no one there, and if there had been, there would've been no place to hide. The room was completely empty and completely well lit. "Who's there?" He asked once again in a loud voice. He stood up and looked around, ready to punch someone's face in. But there was no one, and it was clear that there could be no one. Was Seto going crazy?

"Hello… Seto…" Seto twisted around to find a boy, practically half his size, with neon green hair standing behind him with a grin on his face. "Long time no see."

"Noah!" Seto growled, morphing his hands into fists and getting into a fighting stance, "How did you get in here? What do you want with me?" This made Noah chuckle even more as he started to walk around Seto in circles.

"Oh Seto… if I had a dime for every time I saw your weakness… I'd probably be able to buy out every single stock of Kaiba Corp. then." Seto yelled in anger and charged at Noah. He threw his fist at Noah's face, but his fist went right through him as well as the rest of his body. Seto stopped and turned around.

"What…?"

"I thought you had already figured out that I'm a hologram, Seto… after all, you're supposed to be the computer genius. Not so smart, are you?"

"Noah! Why are you here? What more could you possibly put me through?" Seto said, wishing he could just pop a punch in Noah's face right then and there.

"Ironically, I've actually come to help you… although I will admit, I didn't expect to see Mokuba in such poor conditions… didn't you promise to protect him?"

"SHUT UP NOAH! YOU'RE DEAD!" It was the only thing Seto could think of yelling back. It was the only thing that could make sense; life and death seemed to be all that Seto could think about.

"Steven will be dead too if you don't listen to me…" Seto's eyes widened. His son… Steven. Seto not only had to save Mokuba, but he had to save Steven as well. Although at the moment it seemed as though neither would be possible to save.

"Where is he?" Seto said in a deadly voice, lowering his head to his face behind his bangs, "If you don't tell me where he is right now… I swear to you," Seto looked up, his eyes were cold and heartless, "I will make you die again."

"Cute threat, Seto… but I wouldn't count on it," Noah said in a snobby tone, "Back to the matter at hand, I know where Steven is. And if you ever want to see him again, I suggest that you come to the abandoned computer store back in Downtown Tokyo." Seto gritted his teeth.

"How do I know you're not lying?"

"Well, let's just say you haven't got a choice. Now, do you?" Seto let his hands fall back to his sides. Noah was right. Even if Noah was lying, he had no other choice except to do what he said. How else was he going to be able to find Dartz? Dartz could be anywhere by now.

The hologram Noah looked down at his wristwatch, and back up. "Well Seto, it appears as though I have outlived my visit. I hope to see you soon in Downtown Tokyo again…" Noah stated as his image started to fade away.

"Wait!" Seto called out, but Noah's image had already disappeared. Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door, just before it flung open. Yugi stood in the doorway.

"Kaiba! Come quick! It's Mokuba!" The numbness went away, Seto could feel pain again pulled at his heart, "We're losing him!" Seto pushed through Yugi and ran down the hall into Mokuba's room. There were already doctors huddled around the hospital bed, frantically calling out random instructions.

Seto ran to Mokuba's bedside, looking down at his brother, and then at his heart monitor. The beeps were loud and fast, the doctors were pumping air and pushing on Mokuba's chest trying to keep him alive. Seto took up his brother's hand and held it tighter than he had ever held anything in his life.

Yugi and Tea stood from afar in fear. "I can't watch!" Tea said, turning her head and burying it in Yugi's chest. Yugi clutched his fist, wishing all the strength in the world to go to both Seto and Mokuba. Time seemed to be rushing by, and everyone's hearts were racing.

"Mokuba! If you can hear me, come back! You're strong, little brother, you can make it!" Seto yelled to the motionless boy, the beeps quickened in pace, "Come on, Mokuba! Fight it! Stay with me, Mokuba!" Everyone seemed to be holding their breaths in that moment, just as the beeps had completely stopped and the line fell flat.

"No…" Seto said. The doctors all stopped, looking from the body to the monitor, and then at Seto. There was nothing more that could be done. They looked at one another, trying to figure out who should say what.

"Time of death; 4:56 p.m." All the life that was left in his body slipped right through Seto's fingers and into the after life.

* * *

**A/N:** _Yep. I did it. Most of you didn't think I would do it, but after 68 stories, I did. I killed Mokuba. I'm sorry for all of you who will miss him, for I shall miss him too. He was a great human being, as he was a brother. And we all know that we will always remember him in our hearts and souls. But in lighter news, I'm so happy to see that most of my reviewers from the last story are still here! Thanks guys for being such troopers! I promise you that you won't be disappointed in what you read. I'll be writing the next chapter probably fairly soon. I know I said my chapters were going to be longer, and I'm sorry this isn't! But hopefully the next one will be. See you then! Thanks for stopping by!_


	3. Chapter 2: Live and Let Die

Journey Maker: I was surprised to get your review, considering you're about the only person who didn't want to kill me after reading the chapter. And then you even said that you loved my story! I'm sorry, I'm just amazed by that. Anyhow, thanks for the review! Enjoy the chapter!

Xblackrosefirex: Believe me, you're not the only one that wants to kill me right now. Although I will admit I was quite surprised to see that you thought the chapter was great all and all. Well, I hope you hate me less by the end of this chapter. Thanks for the review!

AmePiper: Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! Seriously, you have no idea how terrible I felt after you sent me that review. No joke, I felt like the worst person on the entire planet! I know I'm supposed to be his guardian, and believe me, I do feel like a hypocrite, but don't worry. I'm sure you'll feel better by the end of this chapter! Errr… well… I hope at least. I'm so sorry once again for totally making your day bad!: Please forgive me!

Rena Redhead: Rena, Rena, Rena… what AM I going to do with you? Aren't you aware of how much more sweet revenge is when it is obtained through a review? I'm just kidding, you know how terrible I feel about what I did/spoiling some of FMA for you(I still feel terrible about that, you forgive me, right?.) You liked how Yugi was? Geez, I didn't think he played much of a part… or wait, did he? Gosh, I can't even remember what I did with the last chapter. All I'm positive about is the fact that Mokuba's dead. Although, for the record, I'd like to say that when you say "I told you so!" at the end… actually, never mind. Just enjoy the chapter! Oh, and thanks for the great review!

Chapter 2: Live and Let Die

The room was all white. Or was it a room? It couldn't possibly be a room… there wasn't any real sign of walls, or much else for that matter. It was like staring at a blank piece of paper, except it wasn't physical. It was like… nothingness. That's the only word he could really use to describe where he was, just a bunch of white nothingness.

Mokuba stood in this white room, or whatever it was, looking around. "Hello?" Mokuba said, half expecting to get an answer, but half feeling the need to hear a sound of some sort. He had no clue where he was or how he got there… was he dead? He remembered being shot… and talking to Seto. He remembered bleeding, and then passing out. Mokuba came to the conclusion that he must've died.

"Hey!" Mokuba called out into a random direction, "Aren't I supposed to meet with God or something?" No one answered. There was no sign of any kind of life or physical matter anywhere. Just whiteness as far as the eye could see. Mokuba crossed his arms, thoroughly disappointed with the situation. "Well, this sucks! I thought I was supposed to be meet God… and heaven! Don't I get to go to heaven? I saved my brother's life!"

Mokuba had to admit though, he wasn't really sure what to expect. After all, he had never died before, so how could he possibly know what was supposed to happen? Mokuba looked around and then turned around to look down his back. No wings. He turned his head up. There was no halo either. Mokuba cursed the educational system as well as the media for lying to him about becoming an angel after he died.

Mokuba looked down at his hands and noticed he was in his battle city outfit. He felt his head; his long hair was back. And even though there was nothing around, he could tell he wasn't tall anymore. Not only that, but the bullet wound from his chest was gone. Mokuba was in his eleven-year-old body again. But… why?

"Why can't I be eighteen when I'm dead?" Mokuba asked the nothingness around him. Once again there was no answer. Mokuba was wondering if he was supposed to wander the white wasteland for the rest of his after life when the scenery around him began to change. "What's going on now?" Mokuba asked himself, he felt more comfortable saying his thoughts aloud. The emptiness of wherever he was began to creep him out.

The scenery transformed all around him. Suddenly the whiteness became physical walls, and now there was furniture and people dressed in white outfits. There was a front desk, and he appeared to be standing in the middle of what appeared to be a lobby. After observing the scene around him for a moment, he came to the conclusion that he was in a hospital. Why, of all places, did he have to be in a hospital?

Mokuba looked up at the ceiling. "Why, of all the places you could put me, would you want to put me in a hospital? Haven't I been in enough of those through-out my life?" No answer. Mokuba was beginning to grow tire of talking to himself. The scene was without sound even though the room was filled with all kinds of people and doctors and nurses. Then there was crying. Well, it was more like screaming. But it had been coming from the end of a nearby hallway.

Mokuba, seeing as there was nothing else to really do, starting walking down the hallway and stopped in front of the last room on the left. The crying was definitely coming from that room. Mokuba grasped the knob in his hand and opened the door. There was a woman in the hospital bed, drenched in sweat, holding the screaming child in her arms. Mokuba wasn't sure who she was, but she somehow seemed, familiar in a way.

Mokuba spotted a young seven-year-old Seto standing by his mother's bedside with her fragile hand in his. Their father stood off to the side, letting his long, dark bangs covers his face. His eyes widened; he knew what this was. It was July 7th, and his mother had just given birth to him. Mokuba walked over to the seven-year-old Seto, and reached out to his shoulder. But his hand went straight through him. Figures he wouldn't be able to touch Seto, but…

Mokuba turned and looked from Seto's face, into his mother's. It was easy to see that her life was slowly slipping away; her face was pale and her skin frail. Mokuba wanted to close his eyes; he knew what was about to happen. His mother was going to die. And it was all his fault. Mokuba had never quite forgiven himself for what had happened.

"Seto…" She said in a weak voice, looking away from her brand new baby boy to her eldest son, "I need you… to take care of your brother… Mokuba…" Seto gripped her hand tightly.

"Mommy, don't go." She gave a weak smile as tears began to stream down Seto's face. Mokuba had never seen his brother in so much pain; it was easy to tell that his heart was breaking.

"There's nothing more I can do for you boys… but…" she took a deep breath, trying to gather the strength to continue speaking, "There is one thing… you can do…" Seto pulled his mother's hand closer to his heart, his eyes determined.

"I'll do anything, Mommy."

"Promise me… that you'll always… look out of your baby brother." The last words that she said stung. Of all the last requests she could've made, she made Seto promise to protect him… of all people. The very person that had killed her from the moment he had been born.

Seto nodded eagerly, shaking uncontrollably. "Yes M-Mommy… I promise… I'll always protect Mokuba!" The beeping from the heart monitor began to slow. Seto looked at her face. "No… Mommy…"

"I… love you… Seto…" She gasped just before letting death consume her. The line went flat. His mother had died. The infant was crying even louder now than he ever had before.

"Why… did I have to watch this…?" Mokuba growled angrily, staring at the ground in shame. After eighteen years, he still hadn't quite come to terms with his mother's death. Most days, he would try and forget it. But… he knew that nothing could ever change the pain Seto felt that day as a result of his birth.

Just then the scenery changed again, almost in a flash. Mokuba jumped with surprise, so consumed in emotion he was barely ready for the scene change. In less than a second, he was no longer in a hospital, but on the side of a street. But this wasn't just any street. It was the street he grew up on, before his father died.

A car dashed down the empty street, driving way above the speed limit. A car was turning out from another side street, when the speeding car smashed right into it. Mokuba jumped from the sight of the explosion. The whole car went up in flames. He ran towards it, feeling a pinch of worry, even though he was aware he probably wasn't able to do anything given his current state.

Then he saw the license plate on the back. It was his father's car. This was the car accident that killed his father. Mokuba took a couple steps back just as a crowd formed around the scene. He shook his head in confusion, why was he seeing this? What was it all supposed to mean?

The bystanders were screaming and crying in fear and confusion. No one knew what had happened, people had their phones out, calling the police and the fire department in an effort to save the victim. But Mokuba knew better. He knew that his father had wanted something like this to happen. His father couldn't stand living in a world without his wife and one true love.

Before another thought had been made, the scene changed once again. Now he was standing on another street, another street that was familiar to him. Mokuba turned around and saw that he was standing in front of the Kaiba Mansion. "I had a feeling you would bring me back here…" Mokuba said to whomever was making him do this. There was a laugh heard from the front yard of the mansion. A small boy with neon green hair chased after a bouncing yellow ball, a smile on his face. It was ten-year-old Noah.

"…Noah? Why would…?" The ball bounced into the street, and Noah went after it. To his misfortune, the speeding car driving opposite from him did not slow down. The car slammed against Noah's side and sent him flying through the air. From the looks of it, Noah didn't look too good. Mokuba winced at the site, Noah lay on the concrete, his body was curled up and twitching. His eyes still open.

"I don't understand why you're making me see this…" Mokuba muttered under his breath. Mokuba did admit, that at one point he did have a close relationship with Noah, but not now. It had been many years since he had seen Noah, and that last bit of kindness didn't exactly replace the trouble he had put him through.

The scenes began changing a lot quicker now. Suddenly he was standing in Seto's office in the Kaiba Mansion. He was standing not too far away from Gozaburo. In front of Gozaburo was Seto, with a gun.

"You brat! How dare you threaten my life! After all I've done for you!"

"I'm tired of you and your lies Gozaburo. It's time I get rid of the only threat I have left," Seto said, clicking the gun in his hand and holding it up towards Gozaburo. Gozaburo took a couple steps back, a disgruntled look on his face. Then he started to chuckle. Mokuba shivered; there had always been a creepy feeling that associated with Gozaburo's presence.

"You really think that I'm your only threat? Believe me Seto, you have more enemies than meets the eye."

"Believe what you want, old man. In the end, I'm the victor."

"We'll see about that. Mark my words, Seto Kaiba, I will be back, and I'll take everything that meant most to you."

"Good luck." A bullet. One shot. Gozaburo fell the floor, in his own pool of blood. The deed had been done their step father had been killed. A ten-year-old Mokuba ran into the room, calling out his brother's name. He froze once he spotted Seto, the gun, and what once was his stepfather.

"Nii-sama…" His body was trembling, his eyes unmoving, "What… what did you do?!"

"WHY ARE YOU MAKING ME WATCH THIS?!" Mokuba yelled, looking alla round with his fists in the air. "TELL ME WHAT IT IS YOU WANT WITH ME!" Mokuba didn't know why he had to keep seeing these images. He was beginning to question whether he was really dead or not. The old wounds were beginning to re-open; the pain was unbearable.

Just when he thought he couldn't stand anymore, watching as Seto dropped the gun, his face melting with shame and realization, the scene changed just as his older brother ran to his younger brother's side. But nothing could erase what he had just seen, or what Mokuba had seen in his brother that night.

Mokuba was still in Seto's office, but it had been from a couple years after Gozaburo had died and it had become Seto's. All the lights in room were off, except for one lamp. Isono stood by the lamp, a frightened look on his face. Dartz stood opposite from him. The same gun in his hand from when Seto and Mokuba encountered him.

Mokuba must be watching the scene when Dartz had killed him, and framed Seto. "No… please don't make me…"

"Stay away from me!" Isono yelled, taking a stapler from Seto's desk and throwing it at Dartz. Dartz dodged it with ease. He raised the gun.

"I'm sorry, but unless you tell me where the Kaibas are I'm afraid I'm going to have to kill you…" Isono shook his head.

"No… I couldn't do that… Master Kaiba trusts me!" Dartz lunged forward and pushed Isono down to his knees. He placed the gun to his forehead.

"I don't care if he trusts you… tell me where he and his son are!" Isono looked all around, trying to find a way to escape. But there was none. He had no choice except to tell him. Mokuba took a step forward.

"Isono… no!"

"They're heading to Tokyo! To find Serenity!" Isono pleaded.

"Tokyo, huh?" Isono nodded eagerly, his eyes remained on the gun.

"Thank you oh so very much." Dartz pulled the trigger. Isono's head burst from the blast.

"NO! ISONO!" Mokuba yelled. The scene began to flash all around him; he knew that the scene was changing. But he wasn't ready, he couldn't watch more. He looked all around, in search for a person, a sign! "Tell me if I'm really dead! Tell me why I have to watch so many people die!"

Now he was in the alleyway. Dartz had Steven in his arms. Seto was running towards him. The gun was fired. Seto was on the ground, unharmed. But his eighteen-year-old self had been hit. Dartz disappeared from site, just as Seto watched in horror. "Stop it! STOP IT!" Mokuba yelled in desperation. He couldn't take it, he couldn't take anymore, death. Mokuba wanted it to stop. He needed it to stop.

It appeared as though he were in a dungeon of some sort. There were stone drawings of people all around. Dartz was there. And so was Steven. There was a grin on Dartz's face. No. This couldn't be…

"Now I will complete the prophecy that began 5000 years ago!" Dartz raised his arms in the air. The room began to glow a bright teal. Steven screamed in pain.

"STEVEN!" Mokuba yelled running towards him. This couldn't be happening, this couldn't be happening. Something had to be done, someone had to stop this!

Just before Mokuba could reach him, there was yet another shot. Another bullet fired. This time Seto was the one to receive the blow. Seto floated through the air, just before falling to the ground, his shirt starting to soak in his own blood. His body shaking, his lung gasping for air.

"NO! NO! NII-SAMA! NII-SAMA!!" He was dying, Seto was dying. "NII-SAMA!!" Suddenly the room started spinning. Everything was a blur. He shut his eyes in protest. No more, he couldn't see anymore death. Mokuba pulled at his hair, he shook his head, he closed his eyes and screamed.

"NOOOO!" Mokuba's body jerked forward, his lungs sucking in a big gulp of air. The doctors surrounding his bed jumped with fear.

"He's… alive…!!" One of them exclaimed, completely astonished and baffled at the sight he had just witnessed. Seto's eyes widened, his mouth slightly ajar as he stared in awe at the site.

Mokuba clung to the bed panting, his heart was racing, and tears were rolling down his face. His eyes looked straight up, images of what he had just seen wouldn't disappear from his head. Mokuba wasn't even aware of where he was.

"Mokuba!" Seto called, grasping Mokuba's attention. Mokuba jumped to the side at the site of his brother.

"Seto…? Oh God…" Mokuba buried his face in his hands, "Please stop! I don't want to see any more death! PLEASE! IF I'M DEAD, JUST LET ME DIE!" Seto was slightly taken back by what Mokuba was saying. What was going on in his head?

"No, no, Mokuba! You're okay! You were dead, but it seems you have… come back to life!" Mokuba stared at him blankly. What was Seto talking about? Could he see him? Was he dead… but not anymore? "Mokuba…?"

Mokuba felt his face and his head. He had short hair again. Mokuba looked down at his feet; he was tall again. Mokuba stared at his hands and body. He wasn't… eleven anymore. He was in his eighteen-year-old body again. Mokuba wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but he did know he was alive. He was alive again.

"Mokuba… say something… please…" Seto pleaded, frightened by Mokuba's quietness. Mokuba broke away from his trance and looked over at his brother. He was alive again. And Seto was alive. Did that mean… that the visions weren't true?

But, his mother had died. And so had his father, Gozaburo, and Noah. Isono was dead as well. He had watched himself die. But then he was brought back. Did that cancel out the visions of Seto and Steven dying?

"Mr. Kaiba… maybe we should leave your brother be for a while… he may need some time to… regain himself." Mokuba finally spoke.

"Where's Steven?" Seto was, once again, caught off guard.

"He… he was kidnapped by Dartz, don't you remember?"

"Why haven't you gone after him!?" Mokuba said in an angry voice.

"If you haven't noticed, I almost lost you!" Seto yelled back, now ticked off by Mokuba's tone.

"We have to find him!" Mokuba got up and jumped out of bed.

"Wait, Mokuba…!" Mokuba clutched his chest and slid to the ground. He had almost completely forgotten about his chest wound. Seto was there in a split second, helping him to his feet.

"Mokuba, you're not well yet…"

"But we have to…!"

"Please Mokuba, stay in bed. I don't want to lose you." Mokuba shook his head, the tears returning to his face. He squeezed his eyes shut and let himself collapse into Seto's arms.

"He's going to die… please don't let Steven die…" Mokuba passed out in Seto's arms just as the doctors came and helped place him back in bed.

"Mr. Kaiba… maybe you should let him rest…" Strangely enough, Seto agreed. The day had been so overwhelming and emotional, he needed to get outside and breathe. He walked out of the room, barely even glancing at Tea and Yugi whom stood off to the side.

"Kaiba… wait!" Seto continued walking.

"Yugi, leave me be."

"But Kaiba… we want to help you." Seto twisted around to confront them.

"This has nothing to do with you so just stay out of it! I don't even know why you're still here! Just LEAVE ME ALONE!" Tea put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes.

"You're starting to sound like a selfish teenager, Kaiba."

"Shut up Gardner! No one is really sure why you're even here, you're more useless than Yugi is!"

"Kaiba, you need to get a hold of yourself and let us help you. We want to help you find Steven." Seto turned away and shook his head. What was it going to take for him to get them to leave him alone? Quickly glancing at Yugi, he noticed he had that look in his eyes. Those annoying heroic eyes, the ones that told you that he wasn't going to have to help no matter what.

Seto sighed. "Fine… you can help me. But… until then, leave." Seto walked on and out the door. He needed some air, badly. So much had happened, and now he was going to be stuck with Yugi and Tea, again. Seto sighed once more; just like old times he supposed. What he wouldn't give to just have one moment where everyone was safe and he could be happy.

It was obvious now that it wasn't going to happen anytime soon. But… at least his brother was alive.

* * *

**A/N:** _TEEHEE! I TRICKED YOU! So, you caught me. I could never truly kill off Mokuba! I'm guessing you all want to strangle me by now, and I think I might want to strangle me too. Writing this chapter made my head hurt a lot; intense chapters tend to do that to me. I really am sorry for tricking you guys, I feel like I do that a lot. Gosh, I wonder how you guys put up with me so much;.; Aw… now I just feel terrible! I hope you guys will forgive me for being so mean to you. I rather wish it didn't have to be this way. Well, rest assured that the next chapter will be better. And then we can move on to the adventure!(the drama can be a little much sometimes) Please don't hate me __anymore.__ I love you!_

_P.S: For all of you whom still want to kill me (which I completely and wholly understand) just know that I've actually felt really terrible about this pretty much for the past 2 days. And if you don't believe me, just ask Rena Redhead. I've been crying to her for the past 48 hours about how I feel like such a terrible, terrible human being. So yes, I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me._


	4. Chapter 3: Behind Gray Blue Eyes

Xblackrosefirex: I don't know whether to kill me either! Like I said, the uber guilt of death was creeping upon me as I wrote that chapter. Yes, I will say that I rather enjoyed writing the beginning part where Mokuba is in… well… dead land. I think I might just kill off another character and bring him back to life for the sole reason of being able to write just that. Just kidding! But I will thank you for the review and hope you like the next chapter!

Kukki Boo: Thanks for the compliment/review! I haven't seen you around, but hey, welcome to the story! I hope you like what you can see. Do enjoy the chapter!

Journey maker: Hahaha, I liked your last sentence in your review. It made me laugh. Yep, Mokuba is alive and well… sort of. I'm sure it was just a flash wound though. He'll be back in a jiffy! Thanks for the review!

AmePiper: Woah, you mean… you don't hate me? That's amazing! You don't hate me, and you said I was talented! SCORE! I am totally killing off more main characters! (just kidding) But seriously, your review made me feel so good. I wasn't expecting to surprise anyone, just piss a couple people off really. Oh my gosh and then you said that you were my number one fan. Like, hello, how awesome is that? I have a number one fan! I can say I've lived my life to the fullest now. Don't worry about it, I'm way too critical about… well, everything. Anyhow, thanks for the review! Do enjoy the chapter!

Rena Redhead: Yes, Mokuba was alive but at what cost? The head ache of a life time. Oh well, I take my head aches with pride. It was pretty scary, I imagined it(it being him coming back to life) being way more intense and felt as though I didn't bring all the intense-ness to the floor, but thank you for proving me wrong. I love how you say I'm justifying characters when I am simply bringing them in because I made a deal with someone to bring them in. Well, that was only with one character. Okay, I'm going to stop talking because I'm not following myself. Thanks for the review and here's Steven!-I mean, the chapter!

Chapter 3: Behind Gray-Blue Eyes

Steven sat in the empty room, huddled in the corner on the floor with his knees brought up to his chest. He stared at the ground blankly, thinking about his father, and Mokuba. Steven wondered where they were, and if they were all right. Steven remembered the bullet flying through the air. And he remembered his father falling to the ground, as a result of Mokuba's bravery. Was he okay? Was he even alive?

Steven jumped at the sound of the door being opened. Dartz walked into the room, a tall, buff blonde-haired man was walking beside him. Dartz had his hands behind his back, and a judgmental look on his face.

"Stand," Dartz said plainly. Steven glared at him. Why should he have to listen to the very man that kidnapped him and hurt his family? Dartz raised one eyebrow at him. "I don't believe I stuttered, young man, not get to your feet." Steven gulped and finally worked up the courage to speak.

"No." It was the only thing he could push himself to say.

"Hmm…" Dartz said in a disappointed tone. He brought up his hand and snapped his fingers, "Rafael, seize him." Rafael nodded and stepped forward.

"Stay away from me!" Steven commanded, trying to move away from his grasp. Rafael reached for him and pulled him to his feet by his arm. Steven tried to resist and pull away, but he couldn't budge.

"This way, Rafael," Dartz instructed as he led them out of the room.

"Where are you taking me?" Steven spat, demanding answers. He hated Dartz more than anyone in the world, which was different for Steven, considering he had never hated someone in his life. Then he remembered his fight with Mokuba in the rain. Guilt pinched him in the heart, and fell silent.

"Don't worry, we'll just need to… clarify, that you're the one that the prophecy foretold," Dartz said. Steven frowned; what was that supposed to mean? Steven wasn't even sure what this 'prophecy' was or what he had to do with any of it.

They walked into a small room. Dartz stopped and stepped to the side. There was a scale in front of him. Dartz nodded his head and Rafael released Steven. "Get on the scale." Steven looked at him oddly, why did he want to know how much he weighed? "I said, get on," Dartz said in a more threatening tone.

Steven moved forward and stepped on the scale. The numbers flashed a bit and then stopped at 50lbs. Dartz nodded and signaled for him to get off. Then he turned and pulled Steven to another side of the room. There was a measuring tape attached to the wall. "You want to know how tall I am?"

"I think you should try shutting up once and a while," Dartz said, shoving Steven against the wall. Dartz put his hand right above his head and wrote it down. He was about 4ft. "Tall guy, aren't you?"

"I don't get what you're doing… you kidnap me and then you weigh me and measure me? What kind of bad guy are you?" Dartz pulled Steven away from the wall and examined his hair. He plucked a strand from his head and held it up to the light.

"Yep, dark brown."

"You didn't need to steal a piece of my hair to figure that one out," Steven said sarcastically. For a moment he was slightly surprised at his tone of voice. Steven had never spoken like that in his life. He had always been a quiet and respectful child all his life. Maybe this was simply the first time he had ever met someone whom didn't deserve any kind of respect whatsoever.

Dartz reached out and grabbed Steven, pulling him up close to him. With his other hand, he took out a flashlight. "Open wide," He said. Steven expected him to check his throat, but instead he restrained his head and pulled open his eyelids. He switched on the flashlight and looked into his eyes. The light hurt to look into, Steven started to try and break free of Dartz's grip but to no prevail. "Those legendary gray-blue eyes… you passed."

"Pass what? I wasn't aware that I was taking a test," Steven said. When Dartz finally let him go, he pushed away from him and backed away to the other side of the room. "Why exactly are you taking down this information?" Dartz sighed with annoyance.

"Well, if you MUST know… I needed to make sure that you were the one that the prophecy had talked of, and it turns out you're a perfect match." When Dartz noticed Steven's frightened look, he laughed. "Don't worry, it's better to be the prophecy… otherwise we would've killed right now rather than later."

"Later?" Rafael grabbed Steven from behind and lifted him up and off his feet.

"I'm sorry, but it appears as though I have already said too much as it is." Dartz led them out of the room and down the endless hallway once more. Steven had started to struggle once again, pushing and kicking with all his might to try and break free. "Look at the bright side," Dartz said, once they stopped in front of a door that looked like it led to a dungeon, "You still have some time to repent."

Rafael threw Steven into the dark room and shut the door. The room was cold and dark. There was barely any light, except the light that came from the one window it had. But the window had bars and wasn't too friendly. Steven jumped when he heard a shift in movement from the other side of the room.

"Who's there?" Steven yelled, looking around. Out of the shadows, a boy about his height stepped out and stood in front of him. His clothes looked as though they were from another time, but what one might wear if he were a servant. But that wasn't the strangest thing about the boy. Probably the strangest thing was the fact that he looked exactly like Steven.

"Hello there," he said kindly, in a strange accent. When he studied Steven's face and body, he gasped. "You… you look just like me!"

"So do you!" Steven exclaimed. The two boys observed each other from up close, looking into each other's face and hair. "I'm Steven, what's your name?" Steven said after taking a step back. He felt so rude that he was so shocked by the boy's appearance that he had failed to introduce himself first.

"My name is Shu," Shu said with a smile. Steven put his hand up to his chin.

"What happened to you, Shu? How did you end up in a place like this?"

"I'm not sure, really. I was in my sleeping quarters one night when suddenly that evil man and his henchmen came in and kidnapped me!" Shu said with much suspense, "I demanded to know why they were taking me, and he had said something about a deal…" Steven raised one eyebrow.

"A deal?" Shu nodded.

"I don't know what they could've meant… I mean, I had never seen those men before in my life, so I couldn't have possibly made some sort of deal with them. I figure someone else must've made the deal instead… unfortunately, that's the only conclusion I have really come to." Shu shrugged and looked down at the ground, "How did you end up here?"

"Well… it's kind of a long story, but basically I ran into that Dartz guy after I had run away from my uncle… I had kind of had a fight with my family and didn't want to be apart of it anymore. He promised that he would take care of me and be a real dad to me, but it just turns out that he wanted me for some stupid prophecy…" Steven sat down on the ground, "I'm not even sure what he means by the prophecy…"

"The scary man said that too when he kidnapped me!" Shu said with excitement that he had made a connection, "He's also been saying this one word a lot… 'reincarnation'… I don't know what it means, but he says it a lot. Especially when he's talking about me! Do you know what it means?" Steven shook his head.

"I don't think I've ever heard of that word before." Shu sat down beside Steven and lay out on his back. Steven did the same. They lay side by side, staring up at the dungeon ceiling. "I wish I knew what it meant… maybe it might explain some things that have been going on…"

"Yeah…" Shu said quietly. He turned his head and looked over at Steven, "Why do we look so alike? Do you think we're brothers?" Steven turned his head and looked back at Shu.

"I don't think so… but we're so alike, we could pass for being twins." Shu nodded in agreement. "Where are you from, by the way?"

"I'm from Egypt," Shu said in a sort of proud way, "Where are you from?"

"I'm from Japan… I know, I know, my name isn't all that Japanese. Believe me, I've gotten enough crap for having that name and not being from America." Shu stared at him blankly.

"Where?"

"America." Shu still looked at though he had no idea what Steven was talking about. "You know, the United States of America?" Shu shook his head.

"I've never heard of that country before…" Shu out his hands behind his head to get into a more comfortable position on the ground, "Maybe I'll visit it some day."

"You really should. I'm actually really surprised you haven't heard of it before, Egypt is one of America's only allies currently."

"Oh? Why doesn't it have more allies?"

"Let's just say America makes a lot of people angry."

"Oh." The conversation fell silent for a couple minutes. Each boy wandered off into their own thoughts and daydreams of countries and their own. Steven wasn't even sure what country he was in, were they still in Japan? He woke up in the room he had been sitting in all day and would remain there for the next couple days, and was unconscious through out the rest of the kidnapping process.

"I miss my father…" Shu said in a saddened voice. Steven took a deep breath.

"I do too…"

"Do you think he's out there looking for me?"

"Of course he is. He's your Dad, he loves you." Shu smiled with a slight bit of embarrassment.

"Yeah… I'm sure he'll come for me. And yours will too."

"Well, I hope so. I'm sure he's more worried about my uncle right now though," Steven closed his eyes and imagined Mokuba's face; the idea that he might be dead scared him. Steven had never lost anyone in his life, sure, he didn't have a mother, but he had never had one to begin with. The truth of it all was you couldn't miss what you didn't have. "I hope he's okay…"

* * *

Seto, Yugi, and Tea sat in the lobby patiently. Seto tapped his foot, looking around for something to stare at but his nerves were getting the best of him. The doctors wouldn't let him back into Mokuba's room when he came back inside, Seto was worried that something might've happened to him while Seto was away.

Seto glanced over at Yugi and Tea, slightly annoyed that they were still here. "Look guys, you can stop putting on an act. Everyone here knows your good people, so you don't need to tag along with me to prove it."

"Kaiba, we're not coming with you to prove that we're good people. We're coming with you because we want to help you and Mokuba find Steven," Tea said. Seto rolled his eyes.

"I wish you people would get it through your heads that this is none of your concern."

"This is every bit of our concern, you're our friends!" Seto glared at her. Even seven years later, Tea still had the same friendship mindset she had always had. And both of them still had this idea that they were friends with Seto. Seto crossed his arms and looked away.

"Look… if you're going to come with us, fine. But I'm not going to look out for either of you. This is my journey, and if you must come, so be it, but I will treat as though we are separate parties."

"I don't see what's your deal with us, Kaiba. Do you have a problem with people being equal to you? Do you have a problem having people who care for you? God, after all these years, you're still an egotistical jerk who thinks he's better than everyone!"

"Is that what you really think Gardner? Did you think that I hadn't changed after having a child?" Tea looked at him strangely, "Look, when you have a kid… everything changes. You have to learn when you have to lose. And if you remember me seven years ago ever so perfectly, I was not one who accepted defeat." Tea looked down. "Next time you want to insult me, try to get with the times."

The doctor that was treating Mokuba finally appeared in the lobby with a clipboard at hand. He looked exhausted, but relieved at the same time. Of course, Seto being Seto, wasn't one to notice others emotions, much less his own. So without any manners, he marched up to the doctor and grabbed his by the collar.

"What happened?? How's my brother??" The doctor let his head hang to the side before trying to push Seto off him.

"He'll be fine Mr. Kaiba… he's just under a lot of emotional strain…" the doctor indicated that Seto would have to let go of him before he would continue. After growling with annoyance, Seto let go of him. "Strangely enough, he's been making a very quick recovery, he says he'll be ready to leave here in the next couple of days. It seems the only thing that hasn't recovered is his head, something terrible must've happened while he was, well, dead."

Seto tried to push by the doctor to get to his brother's room, but the doctor stood in his way. "I'm sorry Mr. Kaiba, but I will not allow you to go through."

"What? Why??"

"Your brother needs to be left alone. Like I said, it's his emotional mentality that I am worried about, and you being his brother could possibly trigger another melt down. Please understand that this is only for the best." Seto gritted his teeth.

"Kaiba, I'll go talk to him."

"What??" Seto twisted around to see Yugi standing behind him.

"If you wish, I don't see you causing him emotional grief," the doctor stated. Yugi nodded and walked past both of them and down the hall.

"Yugi, you better not screw this up or I'll kill you!" Seto yelled, before muttering to himself, "God, I hate that guy.

"I value our friendship too, Kaiba!" Yugi replied happily before opening the door and walking into Mokuba's hospital room.

Mokuba was curled up on his hospital bed, lying on his side, with his back turned towards the door. Mokuba's eyes stared straight ahead with a blank expression on his face. A small trickle of tears rolled down the front of his face, while his fingers fiddled with his short strands of hair.

"Mokuba?" Yugi asked; surprised to see the state that Mokuba was in.

"Oh… hey Yugi… I thought you were another doctor," Mokuba said quietly. Yugi walked over to the side of the bed and sat down on the chair that Seto had last sat in.

"Mokuba… um… what did you see when you were… well… dead?" Mokuba stirred, then turned back onto his back. He didn't look at Yugi; he merely stared right up at the ceiling.

"I saw… death…"

"Death?" Mokuba nodded slowly.

"I watched every single person I ever care about who had died, die… and then…' Mokuba bit his lip, "It got… weird. I mean, because I saw myself get shot… and then I saw Steven… I don't know what was going on, but he was in pain. And he was suffering. Then the last thing I saw was Seto getting shot. That's when I woke up."

"Oh…" Yugi wasn't sure what else to say. He didn't know if there was anything more to say. "Do you think it was a sign of some kind?"

"I don't know… I mean, I thought so. I watched everyone die, and then myself get shot, which led to my death, and then seeing Steven and that green light… I thought he had died too… I'm-afraid. I'm scared that maybe… maybe we'll be too late. That's why we have to leave as soon as possible to save him."

"What about your brother getting shot? Aren't you scared of him dying too?"

"Oh Yugi, if worst comes to worst, I'll just push him out of the way again." Mokuba turned his head and smiled. Yugi chuckled.

"Kaiba is pretty lucky to have you as a brother. You'll always be there to look out for him." Mokuba smirked with pride.

"Well, yeah… but it's a two way kind of deal. I look out for him and he looks out for me… even though these days he's really the one that needs saving most of the time now that I'm no longer short and adorable."

"Yeah…" They sat silently, smiling with thoughts of good cheer. "Oh hey, Mokuba."

"Yeah Yugi?"

"I must ask though… what was it like to be dead? I mean… for the period of time that you were, um, dead." Mokuba thought for a moment and tried to recall his experiences before the memories started to occur. He frowned.

"It sucked!" Mokuba stated, "I didn't even get to meet Jesus!"

* * *

**A/N:** _I hope I get to meet Jesus when I die, or else everything I've lived for will be a complete waste. Hahaha, I'm just kidding. I hope none of you are offended by that by the way, I'm sure most of you aren't because you're all quite cool, but you can never be too sure. I love Jesus, I love God, they're both pretty cool kids, so I am, in no way, trying to make them seem not cool. Oh yes, and I do hope you liked my historical humor I threw out there when I was having the conversation between Steven and Shu. Just in case some of you were lost, Shu is from 5000 year old Egypt, and as everyone knows, America didn't exist back then. So that's why he didn't know what America was. Oh yes, and America's closest ally is Israel, and the second closest is Egypt. So yeah. Oh man, I love throwing my American Civilization knowledge around. It makes me feel so smart! Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed the chapter as much as I did writing it! Look forward to the next chapter actually having some action/adventure in it!_

_P.S: I wish I had gray-blue eyes._


	5. Chapter 4: Raiders of the Virtual World

Kukki Boo: Well, you're being quite a good at reviewing for me! And I do thank you for your last review by the way. I'm not one to include many characters other than Seto and Mokuba, but considering this is an adventure story, that tends to happen. Anyhow, enjoy the chapter!

Journey maker: It's funny you should say that, considering both of them lost their sons in different ways… but anyhow, thanks for the review! Enjoy the chapter!

AlienDemon: My eyes are beautiful?! YAY! All your existence is awesome and perfect, and I love you! Thanks so much for helping me with my ideas, I'm pretty sure my story would be a fail and implode upon itself without you to help out. Thanks for the lovely review and enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 4: Raiders of the Virtual World

Seto looked down at the small slip of paper in his hands. The paper read the address of the abandoned warehouse he had stopped in front of. Seto looked around, but there was no one else in site except for him, Yugi, Tea, and Mokuba. He knew this had to be the place, though. A day or two before hand he had received the envelope containing the single page, it had no to or from address. All the envelope had written on it was Noah, and that was enough to let Seto know that it was from him.

"Kaiba, are you sure this is the place?" Yugi asked, looking around the place suspiciously, "How can we trust Noah, anyway?"

"It's the only lead we have."

"But I could round up all my forces and have them search the-" Seto turned towards him.

"Look Yugi, you can either come along and do it my way, or leave and have it your way. It doesn't matter how you choose to do this, but I'm just saying, if you'd like to, just leave and do it yourself." Yugi shut him mouth and continued to follow Seto as they walked closer over to the warehouse.

Meanwhile, not far behind, Mokuba was explaining his thoughts to Tea about an idea he had for a TV show.

"Mokuba, that has to be the stupidest idea I've ever heard."

"What are you talking about? It would be such a hit!"

"A show… about us?"

"Well, not the boring stuff obviously, but yeah. Like duel monsters, and card games, and tournaments!"

"You mean the ones Kaiba loses?" Tea smirked. Seto glared at her, but kept walking.

"I could see that becoming such a hit! Come on Yugi, wouldn't you watch a show about card games?"

"Well, I guess so. But I don't know if the rest of the world would."

"Oh, but they've made anime surrounding such pointless things, I think duel monsters would really knock their socks off!" Tea laughed.

"And what exactly would they call this show, Mokuba?" Tea asked, chuckling still.

"Oh… I don't know… Duel Monsters?"

"No, I think they'd call it Yu-Gi-Oh! I mean, it means 'Game King' in Japanese, and I know that there was any show about card games, I would definitely be the main character of it." Seto rolled his eyes.

"As if Motou, if there was such a show, I would be the main character."

"I don't know Kaiba, you seem more like the anti-hero."

"Besides, you lose too much to be the main character," Tea shouted, quickly jumping behind Mokuba to hide. "But don't worry Kaiba, I'm sure that the fact that you have a little brother will be the one thing fan girls will want to write about in their little stories about you."

"That's it Motou, if you don't get your little wench to shut it, she's out of here," Seto growled. He turned back towards the warehouse and opened the door.

"Wait!" Mokuba called, running over to his brother's side.

"What?"

"Maybe we shouldn't…" Seto shook his head in shame.

"Oh come on, Mokuba, don't wimp out on me now."

"But Nii-sama." Seto pushed open the door and walked through. "Fine! Whatever gets us killed, I suppose is okay to do." Mokuba ran ahead to follow him. Yugi and Tea hurried themselves to catch up to them both.

The warehouse was strangely built. It was all empty and very dark, and it seemed the only way to go was through the hallway up ahead. They walked quietly side by side, looking around and staying alert for anything that could happen. Then they stopped once they reached another door.

Mokuba opened his mouth to protest once again, but Seto pushed it open without a second thought. The door creaked open and all the lights in the room switched on. There was a menacing laughing that was heard from all around them.

"It's good to see that you decided to show up, Seto." Seto scanned the room, looking for Noah.

"Noah… show yourself! Tell me where my son is!" Seto demanded. Noah appeared before all four of them with a smirk on his face.

"I was beginning to think you weren't going to show, Seto. Oh, and what's this? Your friends?" Noah shook his head, "Tisk tisk, Seto. Didn't I instruct you to come alone?"

"Look, I didn't ask them to come, they just followed me here."

"Is that so?" Noah looked at all three and looked surprised, "At first glance I wouldn't have noticed it but what a pleasant surprise. Welcome, Tea and Yugi. What might bring you into Seto's affairs?" Yugi stepped forward with his fist in the air.

"Noah, give Kaiba back his kid! You had no right to take him!"

"Oh Yugi, I hope you didn't just come here to lecture me. Because I have so much more planned for you." Noah laughed again, until his eyes fell on Mokuba. "Oh? And who's this? I don't believe we have met before." Noah walked over to Mokuba, but Seto stood in front of him.

"You stay away from him."

"Oh Kaiba, no need to be so…" Noah took a closer look at Mokuba, his face melted with emotion, "…Mokuba?"

"Uh… long time no see?" Mokuba replied.

"It has been a while, hasn't it?"

"If you mean seven years, then yes."

"Wow, even your voice is different. Puberty really hit you hard."

"Quit it with the small talk Noah, and tell me where my son is!" Noah crossed his arms.

"Look Seto, I'd really like to tell you where he is, but alas. You'll have to make it to the end of the game."

"What?" The doors slammed behind them and the whole room started turning. An image of the Big 5 enlarged in front of them appeared. "Not this again…" Seto muttered, clenching his fist.

"Yes, just another virtual world game for you and your friends to play. But the game has changed since our last encounter, Seto," Noah continued as he circling around the four of them, "You see, this time you won't be dueling your way out. Oh no… you'll be playing a different game every time you encounter one of the Big 5. If you lose one game, well, let's just say you won't be making your way back home to your company."

"Noah! I am not going to waste my time playing a game with you and your goons!" Seto yelled.

"Oh, I'm sorry Seto… but it seems you have no choice, now do you? Your in my world now." A huge hole appeared from beneath the four teens and they began to yell and fall through. Noah twisted around to the Big 5.

"Hey! I didn't say to send them in there just yet!" Noah yelled.

"Oh I'm sorry, you wanted to wait till they were ready to be sent into the virtual world?" Lector said sarcastically. The other four of them chuckled until Noah gave them the death glare.

"Look, whatever you do, just don't let any harm come to Mokuba. Understood?"

"Hey, the boss promised us-"

"Just do it."

* * *

The ground felt cold, and unwelcoming. But then again, what could he expect? He was sprawled out on the ground, after all. Seto groaned, moving both his arms near his face before pushing himself off the ground. Surprisingly he wasn't in as much pain as he thought he would be in after… wait, where were they?

Seto sat upright on his legs and looked around. He appeared to be in some sort of… maze. Seto pushed himself to his feet, immediately noticing afterwards that he wasn't as highly elevated, as he usually was when he stood up. Seto looked around at the tall, precisely cut bushes that stood beside him. He was definitely less the half his normal height. Seto looked down at his hands, which were puny in comparison to how they usually were. What was going on? Was this some sort of joke? Then it hit him.

He was a little kid again. And from the looks of it, he appeared to be in the body of a twelve year old. But just as he endured this realization, he also realized that he had no idea where the others were. More importantly, where his brother was.

"Moku-" Seto stopped in mid-name. His voice was so high-pitched and scratchy sounding. Seto wasn't completely aware at what age he had truly hit puberty, for he had always felt he were an adult trapped in the body of a child mentally, but the sound of his voice told him that he hadn't quite hit puberty at twelve.

Overcoming his embarrassment after a couple moments more, he opened his mouth to call out to Mokuba again, when an even more high-pitched voice was heard from behind him.

"Kaiba?" Seto turned around to see a twelve-year-old Yugi standing before him. His hair had shrunk, just as the rest of his body had as well. And boy did his already short body shrink. Seto was about to burst into laughter, when Yugi's had already started. "You look so… so… innocent!"

"Psh-You should see yourself! You look like you could be shorter than my brother!" Seto cried out, pointing at Yugi and laughing.

"Nii-sama?" Seto turned to see his five-year-old brother standing behind him, his eyes seemingly more innocent and huge, just as he had remembered him as they grew up together. "What's going on?" Mokuba asked. Yugi was on the floor now, holding his stomach from so much laughter. Seto glared at him.

"It's really not that funny, Motou," Seto tried to say in his usual stern and emotionless tone, but failed miserably. This only caused Yugi to laugh even harder.

"Oh my gosh! You sound SO STUPID!" Yugi yelled between laughs, tears beginning to seep out of the edge of his eyes.

"Yeah, well, you're a poop face!" Seto yelled back, covering his mouth afterwards. Had he seriously just called Yugi a poop face? What the heck was going on with him?

"Yugi…?" All three of them fell silent as they turned to see a young, twelve-year-old Tea standing before them. Yugi's laughter disappeared and he got right to his feet and ran over to her. Tea looked as though she was that innocent little girl next door that would try to sell you lemonade for a quarter so she would be able to buy herself a new doll.

"Tea… you… um…" Yugi didn't know what to say to her, he was so astonished by her new appearance. Tea put her hands on her hips in annoyance.

"WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!" Tea screeched in a loud, high-pitched voice like the little girl that she was. Seto, Yugi, and Mokuba stood with their hands over their ears. "WELL??"

"Could you talk a bit quieter?" Seto more yelled than asked.

"Oh, sorry…" Tea said, putting her hand over her mouth in embarrassment.

"So Kaiba… um… this isn't good. We're all a bunch of kids," Yugi said, stating the obvious.

"Don't you think I know that already?"

"Well, what are we going to do about it?"

"I'm not sure… didn't Noah say something about running into the Big 5 and playing some sort of game?" Tea asked.

"Nu-uh! Noah said something else…" Yugi argued.

"No, it's true! I remember!"

"No you don't!"

"Kaiba, Yugi's being mean and saying I'm lying!" Seto eyed them both.

"Why are you all acting like kids? We're supposed to be grown-up, twenty five year olds in the real world." Yugi and Tea looked at one another and shrugged.

"We dunno." Seto sighed and shook his head.

"Well, come on, we're not going to get anywhere just by standing around. We need to find our way out of this maze and out of this virtual world." Seto started walking forward, like the born leader that he was, before realizing he had forgotten something. He turned around, walking back and taking his younger brother's hand in his, "Remember Mokuba, we gotta stick together to make sure the bad guys don't get us."

Mokuba, whom was sucking on his thumb with his other hand, smiled. "Yes Nii-sama," he said, sticking his thumb back into his mouth. The Kaiba brothers walked ahead, leaving Tea and Yugi standing awkwardly side-by-side. Tea looked down at the ground, pushing around dirt with her shoe.

"Um… Yugi…"

"Yeah?"

"Could… um… we hold hands too?" There was a look of disgust on his face.

"Gross! I don't want cooties on my hands!" And with that, Yugi took off and sprinted to catch up with Seto and Mokuba, "Hey guys, wait up!" Tea huffed with anger, stomping her foot several times before doing the same.

The four children walked along silently, arguing at some points when trying to decide which new way to turn when there was one available, or picking on the kid who had chosen the wrong way that had led to a dead end. It surprised Seto, because at times they acted like twenty-five year olds, and other times they acted like mere pre-teens, including Seto himself. Thankfully, Seto had been a very mature pre-teen, so he put himself in the position of the leader and over-seer, until they reached a door.

The four stared at the door in their usual childish curiosity and awe. "Should we go in?" Yugi asked.

"I don't know it seems kind of dangerous," Tea said, "Maybe we should just keep going through the maze."

"But you did say Noah said we would meet with the Big 5 at every door, maybe we're supposed to beat their games to make it through the maze."

"Well, I could care less what you dweebs do, I'm going in there and saving my son!" Seto reached out for the doorknob and threw it open. A bright light flashed before them and suddenly they in a dark cave.

"Welcome to your first game," a creepy, older voice echoed. An image of Seto's ex associate, Gansley, appeared before him with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face, "It's about time you found the first door. We were beginning to think this game was too hard for the likes of young children."

"As if, Gansley! We're fully developed, and very mature adults trapped in the virtual bodies of twelve year olds by your doing!"

"Yeah, you meanie face!" Mokuba yelled back at him. Seto glared at him.

"Mokuba, let me prove our manhood, okay?" Mokuba looked down in shame and nodded. This only seemed to amuse Gansley even more as he began to laugh.

"Children truly are annoying little pests… don't you agree Kaiba? I mean, that IS why you gave up your only son, isn't it? Well, over than the fact that you sought power…" Seto raised one eyebrow.

"What are you talking about? My son was kidnapped from me!" Gansley shook his finger at Seto.

"Whatever you want to tell yourself, little Kaiba. I'm sure you'll have tons of time to think about it while you're on the run." Gansley started to step back as his image began to fade.

"What are you talking about? Where is Steven??" Seto yelled as he ran forward after the fading image. Gansley disappeared just as Seto got close to him, his final foot stepping on something that didn't appear to be like the ground around them. His foot sunk slightly and there was a loud and long creek that echoed through out the cave they were in.

"Um… Kaiba… you don't think…" Yugi said. All four of them remained quiet, the sound of thunder was heard in the distance and grew louder with every second. Yugi's eyes widened. "RUN!" He yelled. All four of them sprinted down the tunnel just as the giant rolling boulder was in sight and came after them.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Tea yelled, not really sure whom she was directing that too, but feeling the need to blame someone for their fatal situation.

"We'll all be fine, just so long as we don't step on anything else that might trigger some lame 1940's trap!" Yugi exclaimed. They continued running, looking back over their shoulder only to find that the giant boulder was gaining on them. They tried pushing themselves even harder or faster, but found that their newly shrunk frames weren't quite as quick as their normal bodies.

"We're not going to make it!" Mokuba cried out in fear, throwing his foot down and finding that the same thing that had happened to Seto, happened to him. Mokuba looked down to see that he had stepped into another sinking tile.

"Oh DARN IT! Why must we suffer through a Indiana Jones reference at a time like this?!" Yugi asked, as he continued running. They all looked up ahead to find that the walls around them started shifting, and arrows flew through the air.

Seto quickly moved to the side, dodging one that had just barely shot past his face. Yugi jumped through the air, dodging one that flew right below him, just as Tea dodged one aiming for her chest. Mokuba ducked forward, he felt the arrow shoot through his hair, but thankfully didn't hit his skull. For the time being, they were safe. Well, besides the fact that there was a giant rolling boulder that could crush them at any moment.

"What are we going to do?!" Tea screamed in desperation.

"Just keep running! And try not to trigger anymore traps!" Yugi stated, bending forward in an effort to become more aerodynamic and run faster. The others tried to imitate the same as they pushed there hardest to beat out the boulder behind them. They weren't sure at what point they had actually managed to give themselves a little time.

Seto looked over his shoulder and saw that the boulder was no longer behind them, and that the rolling thunder sound was farther away than thought. But he could tell it could still catch up to them at any moment.

"Hey guys! We did it!" Mokuba said cheerfully, discovering that the boulder was no longer breathing down their necks as they ran to safety.

"Yeah! As long as we keep up this pace, we're bound to find an exit before the boulder catches up to us!" Yugi chirped happily. Yugi, running ahead of everyone else, finally turned his head, to find a blinding white light shining through what looked like the exit. He ran as fast as he could to jump through the opening, only to find him atop of a huge ledge. Yugi stood up on his tippie toes, just barely skidding to a stop as he exited the cave.

Of course, the others hadn't quite caught onto this. Seto slammed right into Yugi, just as Mokuba did, almost knocking all three of them off the ledge. Thankfully Yugi managed to catch his balance and push them back.

"Man that was a close one!" Yugi sighed with relief, never had cartoons been more right than about the virtual world.

"Look, if we just go around we'll be able to get down safely and-" There was a scream heard from behind them and Tea sprinted out and right into Yugi, Seto, and Mokuba; sending them right off the cliff. They all screamed in horror as they soared through the air to their imminent death. Just as they were beginning to see their lives flash before their eyes, a portal opened before them and a white light consumed them.

* * *

**A/N:** _Hey there guys! This has got to be my favorite part of the story… or, maybe it isn't. Usually all I ever do is apologize to you guys for… pretty much everything. I mean, seriously, I could go on an apologetic rant and talk as if I were the cause of world hunger or something… that's how much I apologize. I know, I know, most of you(all of you really) have told me to stop, but today I do feel as though an apology is in check. I was kind of late updating this week(I know it's only been a couple days, but I consider that late in my books) I've been having a VERY, VERY crappy week. Like, possibly the crappiest week you could EVER IMAGINE. I am so not lying to you guys, it just got worse and WORSEx.x So I am sorry, but I do hope my childish jokes and simplistic references has brought a smile to everyone's face. I'd rather have the rest of the world be happy than myself in the long run, so if you guys are happy, by God, I'm happy. If you have any questions, feel free to ask away. Thank you all so much for your support and reviews!_

_Oh yes, and I must say that part of the credit for this wonder chapter should go to my young, and beautiful associate, Becky the Sexy of course! For without her stunning ideas and dashing good looks, I may have never finished this chapter. She was the one who helped me out with the cave/tunnel sequence. I hope you all enjoyed it. You'd be surprised how hard and annoying it is to make an Indiana Jones reference in one silly Yu-Gi-Oh fanfic. By the way, I don't own that. Anyhow, thanks for reading!_


	6. Chapter 5: While Danger Boils Below

AlienDemon: Hey honey, guess who's gonna be in this chapter! Yep, that's right, your favorite character is. He doesn't appear in the way that we had both discussed, but I think he does show up in a still true to his character way. Do tell me if you think otherwise. Oh yes, and I must discuss some more things surrounding his role with you sometime later. Until then, thanks so much for your wonderful review/support that you have given me all this week! Stay beautiful!

Kukki Boo: I'm trying to decide whether less than two weeks and having five chapters already is good or bad for me. I mean, of course it's good for my readers, but I'm wondering if I usually move faster than that with my stories. Cause I'm just a quick updater by nature, so yeah, I ponder these things. I've actually doubled my standard chapter length, so my usual HiKari readers are probably jumping out of their seats in excitement. Anyhow, thanks for the review and enjoy the chapter!

Journey Maker: I'm so excited to hear that you find my story funny! Cause half the time when I'm writing it, I just kinda wonder if anyone even chuckles at the silly attempts I make at writing comedy. I'm totally gonna admit, I think it's about the hardest genre to write, cause everyone has a different sense of humor so your jokes will either seem really funny, or just fail. Or maybe I'm thinking about it too much… well, anyhow, I'm glad you like what attempts I make! Do enjoy the chapter, and thanks so much for the review!

Rena Redhead: Even though you never technically reviewed to my 4th chapter, I suppose I'll just have to forgive you since your awesome. And since your so uber amazing at reviewing. Thanks, by the way, for like… being alive, ya know? I love the fact that you're falling in love with all the characters I love in Yu-Gi-Oh… it's like amazing. I'm writing this at 1 in the morning, by the way, go figure. Just another night for HiKari, I suppose. You're gonna get to see a lot more Yugi and Mokuba interaction, but it'll be slightly different this time. KILOVEYOUBYE!

Chapter 5: While Danger Boils Below

Shiny white lights and flashes swished all around them until there was another opening and Seto fell onto solid ground. Seto jumped back onto his feet as he were a ninja ready to fight, only to find that he was once again back where he had started and lost in the maze. The sound of yelling was heard, and Yugi and Mokuba fell to the ground close by to him. Seto ran to Mokuba's side and helped him to his feet.

"Are you alright?" He asked the boy. Mokuba nodded slowly without saying a word. Yugi got himself back onto his feet and looked around. Tea didn't appear to be with them. His head turned towards Seto, about to ask where Tea was when the screech of a girlish scream was heard from above.

Almost instinctively, Seto sprinted into action as he watched Tea fall from the odd looking portal and held out his arms. He stopped underneath here just in time to catch her in his arms, just barely holding himself up from the impact of the sudden weight.

Tea sat there, blinking, unclear of what had just happened until she looked up to see her brave hero holding her up in his arms. Her eyes went soft, and her mouth twisted into a sweet smile.

"My hero…" she said in a dreamy voice. Seto stared at her oddly, then seeing her dreamy smile, dropped her to the ground. "OW!" She replied in annoyance.

"Gross, I touched a girl," Seto stated, wiping his hands on his pants. Then he smacked himself on the head, "Why do I keep talking like a twelve year old boy?"

"Maybe because you're stuck in the body of one?" Yugi said. Seto rolled his eyes and started up the maze walking once again.

"Noah is going to pay for what he's done…" Seto muttered to himself, looking around and turning at the next turn. As he was walking, he thought about Steven, his heart tearing at the thought of what Dartz might be doing to him. He wished he knew what was going on and where Steven was, it killed him knowing that it had been his fault that he was kidnapped in the first place.

They continued walking for what seemed like hours, until they began feeling as though they were walking circles. Every turn or corner suddenly seemed familiar, and they weren't sure whether they were moving forward or heading backwards anymore.

"So when exactly do we get out of here?" Tea asked, breaking the long, and deathly silence. No one answered her. "Guys?" Seto stopped and looked down at the ground. This was beginning to be too much, he needed to find Steven and he needed to find him now. "Kaiba?"

Seto took off in a sprint and turned the next sharp corner up ahead. While Tea stood baffled and confused, Yugi and Mokuba didn't take anymore time and took off after him. Tea shrugged and huffed. "Boys, I swear," she said to herself as she ran in the same direction as the others. Only to be faced with two ways to turn. "Guys?"

"We're over here Tea, hurry up!" Yugi yelled from off in the distance. Tea crossed her arms.

"How am I supposed to know which way they're going?"

"Maybe you're not looking hard enough," Tea gasped and turned around. She was immediately knocked out cold and fell into the arms of her attacker. He smiled and disappeared within the maze.

Meanwhile Yugi and Mokuba had finally caught up with Seto, and Yugi was going to try and convince him to calm down. He reached out for Seto's shoulder and caused him to fall onto his back.

"Yugi, what do you think you're doing?" Yugi was hunched over, holding himself up by putting his hands on his knees.

"You… need… to… slow down…" Yugi said between pants. Mokuba walked up from behind him, his thumb remained in his mouth before he took it out.

"Yeah Nii-sama… it's not fair to us. I thought we were gonna stick together." Seto pushed himself up and off the ground.

"Look guys, I'm sorry for running off, but I can't stand walking around in circles in this thing. I need to find Steven and save him. Do you have any idea what they could be doing to him?"

"Where's Tea?" Yugi said, looking around. The boys turned their heads and scanned the area. Tea was gone.

"We shouldn't have left her behind…" Mokuba said with guilt in his voice.

"Oh don't worry, why would anyone kidnap her? She's loud and annoying and-"

"Oh look, the kiddies are playing tag with each other." Crump's image appeared before the three boys. They glared at him. "My predictions read that there's a 100 chance you won't be able to find your friend."

"Stop playing games and tell us what you've done with Tea!" Yugi yelled.

"Oh, gee, I'd really like to. But before I can do that, you'll have to step into here." Crump stepped to the side and a virtual door appeared before them. He smirked. "If you really wish to save your friend, you'll find her in here. But that also means you'll risk your lives as well. For beyond this door lies dangers that-"

"Would cut the crap already, we don't really care what you have to say," Seto pushed by Crump and placed his hand on the knob, "You don't scare me." He twisted it and shoved it open.

"Well, don't say I didn't warn you." It was the last thing they heard Crump say before the scenes changed and they were no longer standing in the middle of a maze. Looking around, the first thing they noticed was all the molten lava and black ash that surrounded them. And then a giant castle up ahead. Seto sighed.

"Of course, what more could we have expected?" Seto started walking ahead when Yugi ran up in front of him.

"Wait Kaiba, this could be a trap." Seto rolled his eyes.

"It's always a trap Motou, but the real question is, do you want to save her or not? Cause whether or not it is or isn't a trap doesn't really matter, cause either way we're going to have to find her and save her." Yugi looked down in shame.

"Fine, you win." Seto smiled with pride before walking on. They walked for some time until they came to a stop at the edge of wherever they were. Seto looked down at the molten lava that boiled below them. Molten hot bubbles burst in random places, and the heat was beginning to make sweat drip down the sides of his face.

"Nii-sama! Look!" Mokuba pointed along the side of the edge where a rigidly, old bridge was tied that crossed the lava to the castle up ahead. Mokuba ran towards it and stopped right in front of it.

"Is this really the only way to get across?" Yugi asked.

"Probably," Seto stepped forward and was the first to walk over to the bridge to cross.

"WAIT NII-SAMA!" Seto turned around.

"What?" Mokuba shook his head.

"It's too dangerous, don't go."

"Oh come on Mokuba, no it's not." Seto placed a foot on the first wooden step and within seconds it snapped. He watched as the two wooden pieces fell and instantly burst into flames as it was dissolved into the lava. Mokuba let out a cry of fear.

"Let's go back, let's go back!" He cried, taking a couple steps back.

"Mokuba, you're eighteen years old in reality, why don't you start acting like it?"

"I would still be peeing my pants about this even if I was eighteen!" Mokuba yelled in response, his eyes focusing on the great plunder that was the lava pit before them.

"I'm not scared," Yugi said blankly, looking between Seto and Mokuba, "I could go first if you liked."

"Oh no you don't, I'm going first," Seto said, placing a hand on Yugi's shoulder, "I have to be the hero."

"No!" Mokuba said, "I will."

"Mokuba, why would you go first? You're the only one who's scared about this." Mokuba gulped, still looking down at the boiling lava.

"I know… but you guys' survival is important," Mokuba looked from Seto to Yugi, "Steven needs you, and Tea needs Yugi. I'm just the middle man in this whole thing, really." Mokuba walked past Seto and Yugi over to the bridge. "And that's why I should be the one to go first."

"Mokuba, don't you dare-" Mokuba took his first couple steps onto the bridge to dodge Seto's attempt to pull him back. "Mokuba!"

"You can thank me later," Mokuba said, more quietly than he had intended. But now he was standing 500 feet above deadly lava and he couldn't help that his stomach was beginning to twist itself in lots of different ways. "Oh man… what was I thinking?"

Mokuba took in another deep breath and took a couple more steps. With every step he took, the bridge would make a loud creak and his heart would race even faster. His whole body was sweating immensely, and it wasn't just because of the heat. He kept going at a very calm, and slow place, staring down at the ground just waiting for the wood underneath him to snap.

"You can do it, Mokuba!" Seto called out, trying to encourage his brother and make him fee slightly safe. Even though panic was creeping up onto him, and he was just as fearful of Mokuba falling as Mokuba was of himself falling. The same caution was ringing through out his head.

Mokuba nodded after hearing his brother call and took a couple more steps. He tried to ignore the creepy creaking of the wood and began feeling slightly more confident. Now he was already halfway, and a smile came onto his face. He took another step and suddenly the wood snapped from beneath his and his body fell forward.

"MOKUBA!" Seto yelled, running to the very edge of the cliff and grabbed the rope handle of the bridge. Mokuba's leg dangled through where the wood had fallen and his hands grasped the next wood step in front of him.

"I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die…" Mokuba chanted to himself repeatedly as he squeezed his eyes shut. He was sprawled out in that position for a couple minutes, fearing that he had made any kind of movement; the rest of the wood steps would break from beneath him and cause his body to fall into oblivion.

Yugi stood impatiently from the sidelines and then walked up ahead near to where Seto watched in complete horror and suspense. Just then a cry of fear was heard from within the castle, and the scream sounded exactly like Tea. Yugi's eyes widened with fear, they were running out of time. They needed to move quickly. "Come on Mokuba, move faster!" Yugi called. Seto smacked his off the backside of his head.

"You lay off him, he can go at whatever pace he wants!"

"If it was me on there I'd already be across! I don't want to just stand around while Tea's in trouble." Mokuba was slowly and cautiously making his way to his feet when Yugi ran across the bridge.

"Yugi! Wait!" Seto called, running onto the bridge after him. The bridge swayed back and forth and bounced up and down as with every step they took. Mokuba grasped the rope handle as tightly as he could as they ran over to him.

"Are you guys crazy?! WE'RE GOING TO DIE IF YOU DON'T QUIT IT!" Mokuba yelled. Yugi was about to give a witty response when they heard some sort of snapping sound from where they had just stood. They all twisted around to see the rope beginning to break. "Oh no…"

"Brace yourselves!" Seto called, they all grabbed onto whatever they could, just as they heard one final snap sound whistle in the air. The bridge started to swing forward and the three boys clung to whatever to could as he flew through the air. They greeted the other side of the lava river by slamming right into the hard ground. They sat there, dangling for a while, trying to break out of their shock.

"I blame you," Mokuba mutter, glaring down at Yugi that clung just below him.

"No way! This is totally your fault for jinxing it and being so paranoid!"

"Oh yeah, cause I was completely wrong to be paranoid. What are we doing now, huh Yugi? I had every right to be afraid." Seto's head popped out from the side below both of them.

"Look guys, this is no time to argue. Let's move forward and get off this blasted bridge before he breaks again." Mokuba and Yugi agreed and started climbing there way to the top.

Even though Seto was only feet away from his own death, his mind seemed to be in another place and thinking of another person. Steven… where was he? He would go to any lengths to get him back. How did Noah even know of Steven? And were Dartz and Noah working together? Who else was in on this plan? It didn't make sense to him, but he didn't have much time to think about it. Seto needed to save himself before he saved Steven.

* * *

Valon entered the dark palace with a grim and stern look on his face. 'Just another day on the job' he thought to himself as he walked through the long corridors, his feet echoing with every step. He pondered how many times he had walked through these same corridors, serving the same man for all these years. He pondered about the good vs. evil factor, and what really defined someone as a villain.

Even though he had killed many people and captured many souls, Valon still didn't consider himself a villain. It was a strange thing to think, but Valon was convinced that he was doing no evil or harm to anyone, just doing what had to be done to protect the world and save his own family.

Dartz had promised him many things when he became part of the team, and became the father figure he had barely known from his childhood and past, but at times he did have a sense that Dartz was not in it for him. That there were other desires that clouded his mind from fully loving Valon like a son, but even with these feelings, he was unsure to what they could be.

Maybe he had no feelings at all, maybe his mind and emotions were trying to tear him away from the only people he considered family Rafael had suffered in similar situations as children, and also saw Dartz as the one man that seemed to care for them when the rest of the world simply turned their back. They had been the lowest of the low in society's terms, but not in Dartz's eyes. He did care about them, he must have.

Valon entered the main room of the huge castle where Dartz sat at the top of the huge staircase, sitting in a fancy red chair with carvings of snakes printed on it. He spotted Alister kneeling before him some distance away in front of Dartz with his head bent down. When he stood beside Alister, Valon did the same.

"What have you come to report, Valon? More good news I assume?" Dartz asked.

"Yes, master. Everything is going according to plan. Noah is following all orders that were assigned to him."

"Good…" Dartz said, lifting the wine glass in his hand and bringing it to his lips, "And what of the Kaiba brothers and their friends?"

"Already being taken care of, master. They're trapped in the virtual world as we speak. They shouldn't be a problem from now on."

"That is excellent news, Valon," Dartz swished around his drink in a circular motion with his hand, "With the Kaiba brothers out of the way, I can proceed without caution that Kaiba will storm in here demanding to have his son back."

"You're not out of the clear yet, Dartz." All three of the men were surprised at the unfamiliar voice within the darkness and turned towards one of the darkened hallways. The man walked in with stride, his eyes focused only on Dartz and no one else. Alister and Valon stood to their feet and twisted around to stand opposite from the man.

"Who are you?" Alister demanded, ready to fight if necessary. The man eyed him, but looked back at Dartz without a care.

"I'm here to speak with Dartz, not his pawns."

"We're not his p-"

"Quiet down, Alister," Dartz demanded. Alister looked up at Dartz with confusion, but stepped to the side. The man walked past between both Valon and Alister without caution or fear.

"It's good to see you again… Bakura," Dartz replied in a dark tone. Bakura smirked with pleasure.

"I'm glad you still remember me."

"What brings you to my lair?" Bakura shoved his hands in his pockets and began to look around at the columns and walls of the palace.

"Well Dartz, to be completely honest, it seems you are beginning to become involved with affairs that do not concern you."

"Oh? How so?" Bakura frowned; he hated to beat around the bush. He was a very direct man, and liked getting right down to business.

"It seems you have taken something from my time period… or better yet, someone." Bakura's eyes narrowed. "What exactly do you plan to do with Shu? Do enlighten me with your plan."

"And what if I were to refuse?" Dartz asked, raising one eyebrow. The smirk return and Bakura let out a loud but short laugh.

"Let's just say, you wouldn't want to refuse telling me," Bakura said, shaking his head. Valon and Alister stared at him with anger, they didn't like the threats he was throwing around and they weren't going to just stand by and listen to them. Valon took a step forward, but Dartz raised his hand and signaled him to stop.

"If you really must know… it's not much different from the plan I've always had… a plan, I'm sure, you wouldn't mind getting in on. That is why you've come, is it not?"

"To be truthful, I must say that I had a plan of my own but now that you have got me interested, explain."

"The boy plays an important part in a prophecy that was claimed long ago, and 5000 years later and many souls sooner, I will finally be able to summon the Great Leviathan and take over the world, making it into a utopia that resembles what my city of Atlantis once was before it was silenced and buried within the sea. Along with the help of the orichalcos, of course." Bakura rubbed his chin, acting as though he were intrigued.

"I see… so what exactly will I get out of all this? You claim that you will take over the world, which is exactly what I want. How could we make this into a deal?"

"I may want to take over the world, but it is only until the cleansing of the earth has been completed and Atlantis is reborn on a much larger scale. If you help me, I will step down after such a transformation has been completed and let you take full power," Dartz smiled, "How does that sound?"

"I suppose it would sound logical," Bakura was silent for a moment giving off the impression that he was analyzing the deal, "Alright then Dartz, you have yourself a deal." Dartz grinned.

"Good." Bakura turned away and began walking back the way he had come in. "I'm guessing I will be seeing you again when the time is right?"

"Oh yes, don't wait up." Bakura replied as he continued to walk. Yes, Dartz could believe in whatever deal he wants to, but this wouldn't stop Bakura from carrying out his own plan. After all, in a world torn by war and corruption, it's every man for himself. Dartz, of all people, should've realized that before trying to make an alliance with him.

The exit was up ahead, but Bakura decided to take another turn. He would explore Dartz's castle and see what he has hiding, maybe even take advantage of what was there for him to take and seek to find where he was holding Shu captive. This may prove to help him with his own plan of world domination.

* * *

**A/N:** _So I'm sitting in school, right? Just a normal day, and then this kid comes up to me and goes "Hey HiKari!" And at first I'm a little sketched out, cause I'm here like 'Dude, how does this kid know me?' Cause I'm pretty sure I've never seen before. But like I said, he comes over to me and goes "Hey HiKari, did you know Memorial Day weekend is coming up?" And I tell him I do, cause, hello, who wouldn't know? And then he says, "You know what the means, right? That means you can't use school as an excuse not to update!" and then it hit me, I wasn't actually in school. _

_So does anyone else think I could TOTALLY be a stand-up comedian? Well, I don't, and you don't have to either! Cause the only thing you kids have to suffer through is another fast update, followed by another roaring chapter! I can't say I didn't warn you… and I didn't so it's all-good. So I hope to shoot another fast update at you real soon, cause what better way to spend the weekend than to make my readers happy and apologize for being so not-as-fast with my updates. _

_Hope to hear from you guys soon!_


	7. Chapter 6: Dungeons and Penguins

Journey Maker: Wow! That's my favorite word, I'll have you know! Anyhow, back to your review. I think you'll enjoy what you're about to read. It's funny, intriguing, and cool. Why does that sound odd? Well, anyhow, thanks for the review!

AmePiper: It was good to hear from you again! I know you're busy, and believe me, don't feel bad for being so! But I will tell you this; it just didn't feel like a chapter without a review chapter to you! Yeah, Bakura was kind of a random character, but for some reason it just sort of came to me to have him in there, so that's how it happened. People probably think I had this whole thing planned out, when in reality, I'm just making it up as I go along. Maybe this makes it more interesting? Who knows! But thanks for you're review either way, please enjoy the chapter! And don't forget to smile!:D

AlienDemon: I LOVE YOU! Thanks for the review!

Kukki Boo: Don't feel bad for not getting my author's note; it was incredibly lame to begin with. But I guess it's just another HiKari thing, hahaha, whatever that is. I'm glad everyone's so happy to have Bakura in here, I don't write Bakura very much and his involvement in the story was sort of random, but overall I'm happy with my decision. Thanks for the review! Enjoy the chapter!

Rena Redhead: So here's a question for the little writer, how can you possibly hope to express all the love and appreciation you feel for one person in one simple review response? That's right… YOU CAN'T! Hahaha, thanks for all your reviews sweetie! You deserve a much more poetic and thought out response, but the TV is distracting and my heart is pounding and… well, let's face it, I'm so excited to get the chapter up!! Thanks again lovely, enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 6: Dungeons and Penguins

"One… more… pull!" Mokuba and Yugi exhaled once they finally managed to pull Seto off the edge and onto normal ground. All three of them sat there for a while, just panting and trying to gain their breaths again. Mokuba crawled over to the edge and looked down. He shuddered at the thought of falling in.

"That was way too close guys…" Mokuba said, looking back over at them. Yugi and Seto were already starting to get up.

"It might've been, but there's still a ways to go before we can save Tea," Yugi pointed towards the castle that was up ahead. Mokuba got to his feet and walked over to them.

"Are we sure we want to go through with this?"

"If it means rescuing Tea, yes." Mokuba and Seto looked at each other and grinned.

"Tea and Yugi sitting in a tree…" Yugi twisted around, his face red with embarrassment.

"Don't you DARE."

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Seto and Mokuba chanted in unison. Yugi hurled himself at them, flailing his limbs in an attempt to punch them both. They sat on the ground, overcome by laughter as Yugi was fuming with rage.

"That's NOT funny!" Seto and Mokuba calmed down and got up once again.

"Sorry Yugi, it's just too fun to torture you in this way. The best part is," Mokuba tried to stifle a laugh, "You're married to her!" Seto and Mokuba starting cracking up once again as Yugi clutched his fists.

"Well, at least I MARRIED someone before I had a kid!" Seto and Mokuba immediately stopped laughing. Yugi instantly regretted what he had said. Seto looked down, letting his bangs darken his eyes and hide them within the shadows. Mokuba looked up at his older brother with a worried face.

"Nii-sama?"

"Let's just go," Seto said grimly, walking towards the castle without them. Mokuba shot a glare at Yugi, as Yugi shrugged with an apologetic face. Mokuba shook his head and ran after his brother. Yugi slowly followed from a distance behind the two.

When they reached the castle, they stopped in the main room, looking around. The place looked ancient, dusty, and most of all, empty. There was a cattle echoing through the castle as an image of Crump appeared in front of them.

"Thank you all for coming, we certainly have a good show planned for you today," Yugi growled and gritted his teeth.

"Where's Tea?!"

"Oh, she's safe… for now. But she should be the last thing you should be worrying about."

"What do you mean?" The floor starting shaking underneath them, it sounded like someone was walking towards them with the feet of a large dinosaur or something. They looked up at Crump to see him grinning with excitement.

"Before you can save the girl, you must fight the beast."

"The beast?" Mokuba looked all around.

"Maybe he means a dragon."

"Oh, worse than that, young Kaiba." The stomping got louder and louder until two orange feet stepped into the main lobby where the three boys stood. Their jaws dropped and their eyes widened as they stared up and a giant, huge, ferocious… penguin.

"A penguin? You sent a penguin to destroy us?" Yugi started to chuckle. Even though the penguin was about the size of a T-Rex, it was still a penguin; the arctic bird that couldn't even manage to fly. Much less fight anything. Crump frowned.

"It's not just any penguin…" The penguin turned its head upwards and let out a loud screech before opening it beak and letting a long trail of fire swish through the air. Yugi's eyes twitched with realization and astonishment. "It's a fire breathing penguin!" Crump finished proudly.

"So we have to fight this thing by ourselves?"

"Well, you do have the choice of using those," Crump pointed to one shield and one sword that was twice their size and was obviously supposed to be used by a full grown adult, "Or you could simply burn alive. The choice is yours, really. Have fun…" Crump's image faded and the three looked at each other and back at the giant bird standing before them.

"So… what do we do now?" Mokuba asked. The penguin eyed them, he looked hungry, opening his mouth and letting out another screech before taking a step forward. "Guys… do we have a plan here?" The penguin took another step closer, "Guys, seriously. Tell me you have a plan… we need a plan here!" Mokuba turned towards Yugi, "Well?!"

"Um, um, well… uh…" Yugi looked all around in an effort to give himself ideas for a plan, he looked back over at the Kaiba brothers, "Okay, this is the plan. Mokuba, you go and find Tea, while Seto and I will fight off the dragon using those," Yugi pointed to the shield and sword that were hanging from the wall.

"But those are way too big for one of us to carry both," Seto said.

"I know, that's why we're gonna man one of each and have to help each other out." Seto glared at him.

"You know how I feel about working with you." The penguin was only a few feet away by this time, letting out another screech and drawing their attention to their ever-closer doom.

"Kaiba, this is no time for arguing," Yugi turned to Mokuba, "Mokuba, you need to go. NOW. Find Tea!"

"But I don't know where Tea is! How do you expect me to find her?"

"Simple," Yugi pointed to a staircase over at the other end of the large room, "You'll find her up the stairs in the highest room in the tallest tower." Mokuba looked from the staircase back to Yugi and Seto. They were already trying to take the shield and sword down from the wall and wield them as the penguin came closer.

"Oh wait, is this a Shrek reference?" Yugi finally managed to tear down the shield from the wall, almost collapsing as it fell onto him. He used all his strength to lift it up and strap it to his two arms. He glanced over at Mokuba one last time.

"This has a fire-breathing penguin in it, you decide. Now GO!" Mokuba nodded and sprinted off to the staircase. Seto and Yugi looked at one another, Yugi could still sense that Seto was mad at him for what he had said. Yugi did feel sorry, but he knew that neither of them really had time to apologize and make up. The penguin was standing only inches away from them now; they could see the flames firing up from within the penguin's large beak.

"Kaiba, I know you're probably still mad about what I said, but think of it this way. If we work together now and manage to stay alive, you can kill me yourself." Seto looked over at Yugi and smirked, lifting the sword in the air and barely managing to hold it up and point it in the penguin's direction.

"Sounds like a good deal to me." Flames shot out from the penguin's mouth, Yugi jumped forward in front of Seto, shoving the shield against the flames. Yugi flew through the air and onto the ground, the shield landing over him and managing to completely conceal his body. Yugi's head popped out of the side.

"Wow." Seto wasted no time being astonished, he took up what seemed like a fifty-pound sword and swung it at one of the penguin's feet while he wasn't looking. The swinging of the sword almost sent Seto flying as well, the sword had to weigh more than he did! The penguin let out a cry of pain and took a step back. Seto tried to jump back and swing again, but the sword seemed to be stuck sideways in the penguin's leg. The penguin looked down at him.

"Uh oh…" The penguin's leg flew and collided with Seto's whole body and sent him flying through the air. He slammed against the wall and lay there. Yugi was up on his feet by this time, but then the penguin noticed him and tried shooting another blast of fire at him. Yugi recoiled under the shield as if it were a turtle's shell. He knew this wasn't going to last him for long though, he could feel the shield already beginning to melt underneath all the fire. There was a yell, and the fire ceased.

Yugi pushed the shield away and sat up, watching Seto run through and around the penguin's legs trying to confuse him in a way. The penguin was twisting and turning around, trying to get a good shot of Seto to blast with its fire, but not being able to get a good aim at him.

"Yugi! The sword!" Seto called, never stopping from his running routine that he had going right then. Yugi nodded and understood. He darted off towards the penguin's left leg, one eye always remaining on the penguin's face to make sure that he didn't notice him. That was when Yugi first noticed his heart was beating faster than it ever had before in his life. His body wanted to freeze, to retreat back to under the shield, but his heart kept him going. The thought of Tea was the only thing on his mind.

Yugi managed to reach the sword without the penguin noticing him. Gripping it in two hands, he pulled as hard as he could to try and pull it out. But it wouldn't budge; it was wedged in there pretty deep. That must've hurt the penguin, Yugi assumed. The penguin let out a cry of frustration, just before laying eyes on Yugi and the sword. Seto stopped with fear; the penguin was going to strike him.

"Yugi! Hurry!" Seto called over, wondering if he ran then if he would make it in time to try and pull the sword out. The penguin bent forward, directing it's sharp beak in the direction of Yugi's small frame of a body. Yugi was no longer looking up at the penguin anymore, all his attention and strength was focused on drawing the sword from the penguin's leg. Seto was running faster than he ever had before, and the beak was coming closer and closer to impact. This was it; Yugi was going to die. "YUGI!"

And then, it seemed, everything fell into place all at once. Yugi, at the last minute, finally seemed to gain the one strength his needed to draw the sword out from the penguin, just in time enough for Seto to flip it out of Yugi's hands and thrust it straight into the middle of the penguin's head. Time stopped for just a moment as the penguin was very still, and his eyes slowly glossed over and blackened. Seto pushed Yugi out of the way as it's huge body fell forward and lay dead.

Seto had his arm around Yugi as they lay sprawled out on the ground right next to each other, both of them had their eyes closed knowing that death would surely come to them if their last attempt didn't succeeded. After a few more moments of silence, they opened their eyes and saw that there was no fire-breathing penguin around. Yugi blinked and stared over at Seto. Seto looked to the side at Yugi, and removed his arm from around Yugi's body.

"EW! GROSS!" Seto cried, jumping away from Yugi like he was some sort of diseased animal. Yugi sat up, astonished at what had just happened, not even bothering to look at the giant creature that lay dead only a couple feet away from them.

"Oh my gosh… you saved me…" Yugi said; his face blanketed with emotion. Seto shook his head and pointed towards him.

"No… no… no, stop it. Stop looking at me like that." A huge and happy smile was crawling up the sides of his face, "Stop… stop it right now, Yugi! Don't think what I think you're thinking!" Yugi jumped to his feet in happiness and tackled hugged Seto to the ground.

"You DO think of me as a friend! You do! You do!" Seto was looking all around for the sword that they had just used for combat, but frowned as he spotted it lunged in the dead penguin's head.

"Hey, hey, hey. You said I could kill you myself after we killed the penguin, right?" Seto said, looking around for another weapon to use to stab Yugi. Yugi was way too happy to notice, his arms crushed Seto's bones and ultimately his emotional stereotype. Seto frowned, trying to regain his normal emotionless face just before shoving Yugi off of him. "Shouldn't you be saving your girlfriend?"

"Oh yeah!" Yugi said, practically forgetting what he had just risked his life for. He jumped to his feet and held out his hand to help Seto to his feet, "Come on Seto, we're going to go and save Tea…" he giggled with excitement as he said the word, "Together!" Seto slapped away Yugi's hand and pushed himself up to his feet.

"I'm just in this for my son, that's IT." Seto started walking towards the staircase. Yugi caught up and walked side by side with him, his arm slowly wrapped around Seto's waist as they were walking. Seto punched the side of Yugi's head and slapped away his arm.

"Motou, I swear to God. If you do that one more time I swear I'll kill you."

* * *

It took Mokuba what seemed like hours to climb the whole staircase. By the time he finally reached the top, he collapsed on the final step and simply let him lay there panting. He felt as though killing off the crazy fire-breathing penguin would've taken far less time and energy than climbing all those stairs. He would make a reminder to kill Yugi for giving him the worst duty when he got back.

Once he regained his strength, he moved his body back up into his standing position and marched forward to the only room on that floor to open. He slowly let the door creak open and poked his head inside. The room definitely looked like something out of a fairy tale book. There was an old-fashioned candle light on the bedside, a huge bed with a bug net swishing in the wind. And there was only one window with bars securing it to look out of. It was your typical dungeon for a captured princess.

Mokuba entered the room suspiciously, moving forward and pulling the net away. Tea lay peacefully on the bed, a bouquet of flowers in hand. Her long, flowing pink dress extended all the way off the other end of the bed. Mokuba eyed her strangely, wondering what he was supposed to do next. All Yugi told him to do was find her in the highest room in the tallest tower that was it. He never said she'd be… dead-like.

"Uh… Tea?" Mokuba asked, looking at her. She made no sign of response. Mokuba looked around to see if anyone else was around. But no one was, this had to be Tea. Mokuba poked her stomach. "Tea… um… we have to go now." Tea made no movement whatsoever, maybe she was dead. Mokuba knew there was some way of telling whether someone was alive or not, but his five-year-old attention span obviously hadn't obtained it.

Mokuba grabbed Tea by her shoulders and starting shaking her. "Come on, Tea! Tea! Hello?!" Suddenly a scary thought came into his mind. What if Yugi saw him and Tea? What if Yugi thought Mokuba had killed her while he had sent him to save her? Mokuba couldn't take that chance; he had to wake her up.

Mokuba jumped onto the bed and starting bouncing up and down around Tea's body, making sure not to jump on her, but to cause her body to bounce up and down. "Wake! Up! Wake! Up!" Mokuba chanted over and over again while he tried harder and harder to wake her. Tea's body simply bounced with the bed, but was unmoving all the same. Mokuba jumped off the bed and sank to the ground. He was going to get so grounded for this; he knew it.

Just then, his eyes spotted a small piece of paper on the ground. Mokuba blinked for a moment, looking around again, before picking it up and unfolding it. It appeared to be some sort of note. From Tea! Did this mean she had killed herself or what? Mokuba decided to read it.

_"Hello Brave Knight! Thanks so much for slaying the fire-breathing penguin for me; you wouldn't be the cost of food to feed a thing of that height. Anyways, if you're reading this now, that means you have killed the penguin and are now trying to rescue me. You've probably noticed I seem a little dead, but no worries! I'm alive and well. All you have to do is kiss me and I will return to consciousness. _

_I'm sure we'll live a happily ever after together! –Tea"_

Being in the body of a five-year-old meant that Mokuba couldn't read more than half of what the note actually said, but there was one word he did recognize, and that was kiss. He remembered all the fairy tale stories that involved towers and unconscious princesses, so he assumed that he would have to kiss Tea to awaken her. The only problem was that no one wants to kiss any girl at that age.

Mokuba sighed and got up. He looked down at Tea. Should he really go through with this? He was well aware that Tea was, well, kind of Yugi's girl in this department. But he had instructed Mokuba to save her. So he supposed if that meant kissing her, he would have to comply. Mokuba took a deep breath, bent forward and kissed her on the lips.

Tea's body jerked forward and inhaled a gasp of breath. Mokuba was already on the other side of the room, spitting and wiping his mouth from sound a vile experience with a female. Tea turned her head and looked towards Mokuba.

"Brave Knight! I wish you a many-" Mokuba turned around when he heard she was talking to him, his sleeve still covering his lips as he was in mid-wipe. Tea's heart shattered, and then suddenly she was angry. "YOU'RE the one that saved me?? How could you slay the evil monster?"

"I didn't, Yugi and Seto are. Which reminds me, we should probably head down there now. They could use our help!" Mokuba headed towards the door, but Tea remained on the bed with her arms crossed.

"I refuse to leave until my one true love kisses me!" Tea said with a huff. Mokuba rolled his eyes.

"Look, as much as I'd like to wait around for that, Yugi could already be dead for all we know, so if you ever want to see him again, we might as well get down there and help him. Then you can 'kiss' him or whatever." Tea shook her head, rolling her eyes as well. Mokuba obviously didn't understand the step-by-step program or rescuing in a princess, but she still got off the bed anyway.

"Fine, I guess we will." Tea and Mokuba ran towards the stairway and rushed down the steps. They continued down the stairway for a couple minutes before they spotted Yugi and Seto walking up the stairs from below. A huge smile appeared on Tea's face and her heart fluttered. It was a wonderful feeling, and Tea didn't want it to end. Yugi looked up, and she could tell his heart did the same thing. "Yugi!" She called, leaping through the air.

"Tea!" He said, catching her in his arms, just before he fell backwards and skidded down a couple stairs.

"Oh my gosh!" Tea pushed herself up, "Are you okay?!" Yugi was, indeed, in extreme pain, but seeing her face was enough to make the pain no longer matter.

"I'm fine… now." Tea smiled, bending down and giving Yugi a cute and quick kiss on the lips. Seto and Mokuba stood a couple stairs up, staring at them.

"It's funny that only a couple minutes ago, Yugi was fearing her touch and cooties," Seto stated, even though he was utterly ashamed to have fallen victim to the same elementary urges. Mokuba chuckled and looked up towards his brother.

"So aren't you going to kiss me?" Mokuba said, grinning. Seto smirked and ruffled his mess of hair.

"You'll understand when you're older."

"Do you mean when we're back to normal older, or actually older?" Seto gave him a playful punch before lifting Mokuba up and placing him on his shoulders. He walked by the two lovers, whom were still laying in there odd position sprawled out on the stairs, now only gazing into one another's eyes with such a passion, nothing could break their stare. Seto gave a small smirk and walked on with Mokuba his side.

Love was something he didn't understand, and felt as though he never would. But whatever it seemed to be in reality, it must be a wonderful thing. A very, very wonderful thing indeed.

* * *

**A/N:** _I am on a role here! Aren't I? I actually am really pleased with this chapter(which, as you all know, doesn't happen very often) I am really excited about what you all have to say about this chapter, since I just thought it was so cute and so funny! Or at least I tried to make it seem that way. You all must tell me all that you think of it. I thought the whole thing with Yugi and Seto was cute, how about you? I don't think they could ever truly be friends, most because of Seto, but still. Wasn't that cute?! I thought it was cute. Anyways, enough about what was or wasn't cute, I hope you all had a fantastic day!(not to mention Memorial Day Weekend… it all goes downhill from here, folks. School is the pain that keeps on hurting.) Hope to hear from you soon!_


	8. Chapter 7: To Be Human

Kukki Boo: I like how totally off you seemed about the whole penguin ordeal in the last chapter, I thought it was funny. I have a strange sense of humor… but it's okay, cause I don't think anyone else has caught onto that fact. Oh, and referring to your last sentence, I was probably just hyper, I haven't exactly been having the greatest two weeks so happiness seems quite out of the question. But don't worry, I enjoy writing this fic, it's possibly the only thing that's kept me sane these past couple days.

Rena Redhead: Yay! I am so happy that you liked the chapter. I thought you might enjoy it!:D The comment Yugi made shall be resolved in this chapter, just as you reminded me. So pat yourself on the back for this one. Gosh, I'm so sorry this review response is so lame. Yes, love is truly a wonderful thing. And it just excites me every time you're right on the dot about what is going to happen next. Makes writing this story even more fun. Well, as promised, here is your chapter. Thanks for the review!

AmePiper: I'm so happy that my message made you smile, dearest! You know I would do anything just to brighten your day, I know how hard life's been on you and the least I could do is write a funny chapter about kiddies and penguins. It just… it makes me happy to know that you're happy. I'm one of those people that would give up everything for someone else's happiness. It's what I do, it's how I am. Although I can't say that's my primary mission when writing these stories, but it does make me happy to know that it help other people get through the day. Because then I feel like I'm giving back, considering all your review always bring up my day when I'm down! Anyhow, thanks for the review, lovely, feel better and enjoy the chapter!

Journey maker: I'm so glad you liked the chapter! I really feel like I've accomplished something this time… hahaha. Thanks for the review!

Chapter 7: To Be Human

There comes a point when all hope is lost, a point in which the light at the end of the tunnel ceases to exist. The point of no return. No one was sure whether Egypt had really reached that point yet when the war first broke out, but within only a few weeks many lives had already been lost and death was on every door step. The country, at this point, had been torn between two sides. There were those who stood by pharaoh Atem, consisting of his sacred guardians and faithful followers. And there were those who stood by high priest Seth, consisting of the rebels and believers that felt he deserved the throne and whom were willing to do anything to fight for him.

Seth smiled evilly, looking down at the scene below where men and women lay dead in the streets. The sounds of cries and screams were still heard in the distance, even though the main clash between him and the pharaoh's forces had been over for many hours now. Atem's army retreated back into the main lands, allowing Seth to take over another village and Egypt and equaling them in land and forces.

One of his right hand men walked into the main room, "Master Seth, there is a villager here that has requested to see you." Seth turned his head and eyed the messenger.

"A villager?"

"Yes sir, she claims to have known you. We tried to shoo her away, but she was quite determined and assured us that you knew her." Seth turned his body all the way around and fully faced him.

"I see… you may let her in as requested." The man bowed and exited the room. Seth pulled out his millennium rod, standing up right and letting his rod gleam in the light. It was a symbol of pride and power; Seth wanted all to fear him and to take note of the power he possessed. But then the villager was pushed in and released by the guards just as they exited the room.

She stood apart from him with an absolute look of disgust on her face. "Seth… what in Ra's name do you think you're doing?" Kisara demanded, holding up her fist. Her body was tense, and her heart racing. But she tried to ignore all that and focus on her inner strength. The devilish smirk reappeared on his face as he laughed.

"Taking my rightful place as pharaoh, of course!" Kisara shook her head.

"Why are you doing this? Why would start something like this?!" Seth rolled his eyes and turned away from her.

"I didn't expect you to understand, Kisara. You're a mere commoner with no future to look forward to. You see, Kisara…" Seth started circling her as he walked with the millennium rod still in hand, "I was born for greatness… I have the blood of the many pharaohs before running through me. Don't you see? I was the one who was supposed to take the throne!"

"Seth, I don't understand. A couple weeks ago you were devoted and loyal towards the pharaoh and accepted him as Egypt's one true ruler. Then suddenly you decide after all these years that you deserve to be pharaoh? What's gotten into you?" Kisara demanded, almost frightened by how evil and un-pure Seth's voice sounded.

"Like I said, a commoner would never understand."

"You mean the commoner you once loved?" Seth froze. Kisara walked over to Seth and stood in front of him. Seth took up his millennium rod, but Kisara smacked it away, keeping her eyes focused on his. "Where. Is. My. SON?"

Seth put his hands over her mouth, "Don't say that so loudly," he whispered, Kisara ripped away his hand from her face.

"Where is my son, Seth? Where is Shu??" Seth looked away. Kisara grabbed his face and turned it back towards hers, she could tell he was trying to hide something. "Seth, tell me. NOW. Where is he? What have you done with him??"

"What makes you think his disappearance is of my doing?" Seth asked, trying to point the finger at someone else.

"Because you have become a monster. Shu disappeared right after you broke away from the pharaoh and the rest of the guardians and decided to run off and play dictator in this meaningless civil war!" Kisara screamed.

"How DARE you defy me!" Kisara threw a punch at him, but Seth grabbed it and restrained it with force. Kisara tried to tear away from his grasp, but Seth didn't let up.

"Who are you? You are not the man I loved! You're not even half the man I once loved!" Kisara stated, shaking her head back and forth in denial. When she looked into his eyes, all she saw was hatred and a lust for power. She saw a monster, a demon, and an emotionless tyrant. Seeing such darkness in her eyes only frightened her more, and she began to pull more violently to break free of his grip. "You are not him! You are not Seth!"

Seth twisted her arm back and caused her to scream in pain. "If you know what's best for you, you'll shut your mouth."

"Where is Shu, Seth… please… tell me where he is!"

"He's been… dealt with." Kisara's eyes widened, her mouth trembling.

"…What?"

"The stranger from Atlantis… he promised me all the power I needed to overthrow the Pharaoh if I handed over Shu." Kisara covered her mouth with her hand after she gasped.

"You… did… what?!" Seth reached into his robe and took out a simple green stone that was glowing in his hand.

"…This… this is what I am going to use to gain the throne and all of Egypt!" Seth yelled, gripping it within his fist and holding it up in the air triumphantly. Kisara stood there in complete shock, not wanting to believe that it was reality. That she had lost not only her son, but her lover as well.

"I can't believe this…" Kisara said quietly, but soon finding her voice as the anger boiled, "You promised, Seth! You promised to protect him! He was your son… he was our son!" Kisara cried, using her other hand to pound on Seth's chest. Tears started to stream down her face with the realization that she may never see her son again.

Seth grabbed her other arm and restrained that as well, "Kisara, don't you understand what this means?" Kisara finally gained the strength to shove Seth away and pull free of his hold on both her arms. She couldn't believe that Seth actually looked confused, it almost seemed like he couldn't understand why she was mad.

"I do… but apparently you don't," Kisara spat, turning and running out of the room, "I'm going to find my son! I'll find him and bring him back!"

"Kisara! Wait!" Kisara squeezed her eyes shut as she ran out onto the street with tears running down the sides of her face. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. It had been Seth's fault all along; he was the one that sent Shu away. He was the one who robbed her of her only son! "Please!"

"No! You're not even human! You're just a monster! A blood thirsty monster!" Kisara yelled before leaving the palace without stopping. Her mind was racing, but her heart was dead set on one mission.

Kisara was going to find him, no matter what it took. She would find her son and bring him back. Kisara felt that if she could find Shu, it would make things right again for her, for Seth, and for Egypt. Maybe Shu was the key to defeating the demons in Seth's heart. Maybe Shu was the key to something even bigger.

* * *

Bakura wasn't exactly sure what he was looking for and even how to get to it, all he wanted to do was have a little fun. He wandered around the strange, dark hallways for quite some time without running into anyone. Bakura guessed Dartz didn't have many friends to invite. He heard some talking up ahead and swiftly slinked towards it. He slithered across the wall until he saw Rafael and Valon at the end of the hallway talking. His eyes narrowed.

"Have the kids given you any trouble?"

"Nah, not really. They seem to keep themselves busy just… talking to each other," Rafael looked back at the door his stood in front of, "It's so weird to see them… you know, cause they look so alike. I don't even think they realize that they're from different… you know, times." Valon scratched his head and crossed his arms.

"Yeah… why again does Dartz want these two brats anyway? I thought he had collected enough souls a long time ago for this summoning or whatever."

"He did get enough souls, but apparently it didn't work when he tried to use them to summon the Great Laviathan again. Then he found some… 'ancient prophecy' or whatever that indicated that they needed the boy from the past to activate it."

"So why do we have Kaiba's kid in there too?" Bakura's eyes widened, a bit surprised to hear that Seto had a son. Had he really been out of touch with them for that long? Bakura had to suppress a chuckle when he thought of Seto actually having relations with another woman. Even he could tell that getting laid for Kaiba would prove to be a difficult task, but he never actually thought he would eventually do it.

"I'm not sure… I think I remember Dartz trying to activate it with the Egypt boy, but even then it didn't work. Then he found something else written within the prophecy, one of those read between the lines gigs, and discovered he needed the reincarnation of the child. Which just so happened to be Kaiba's kid."

"Oh, weird…" Valon rubbed his chin, "Man that's complicated."

"Tell me about it," Rafael laughed, "I've sort of given up trying to understand it all." Bakura swiftly jumped out into the opening and slammed Valon's head against the wall, knocking him out. "Hey!" Bakura bended forward and head butted Rafael in the chest, knocking the wind out of them. Before he could even get a chance to regain his breath, Bakura karate chopped the back of his neck and knocked him out as well.

Bakura stood straightened up, looking down at the ground happily. Valon and Rafael were lying on opposites side of him, unconscious. Bakura brushed off his hands with a satisfied look on his face. "A job well done," Bakura said to himself. His eye fells on the dungeon door. "I suppose this might be where the prisoners are kept…" Bakura walked over both Rafael and Valon and proceeded towards the door, "This may slow Dartz down a bit."

He opened the door, and both Shu and Steven looked up. Bakura raised one eyebrow; they certainly fit the reincarnation description. They looked exactly alike, and it was easy to tell which time period both of them came from by the clothes they were wearing. Shu and Steven sat motionless on the ground, not sure whether to be afraid of happy that this newcomer had just opened the door locking them in and knocked out the guards. To be honest, Bakura wasn't exactly the friendliest looking guy, so it was hard to tell if he was good or bad.

"So you two are the little prophecy boys everyone's been talking about, eh?" Shu and Steven looked at each other.

"Uh, well, we do seem to get that a lot," Shu and Steven got up, "So what exactly do you want from us?" Steven asked.

"Absolutely nothing," Bakura said, pointing to the opened door, "I just want you guys to get out of here while you can."

"Does this mean you're rescuing us or something?" Steven asked suspiciously. Bakura just didn't seem like the hero type Steven had to admit.

"I suppose you could say that," Bakura said, "Now do you want to escape or what?" Bakura turned and noticed Shu observing him very closely. Steven noticed it too.

"Why are you looking at him like that, Shu?" Shu was eyeing Bakura.

"I don't know if we can trust him, Steven. I remember my dad talking about a tomb robber once who looked exactly like this guy."

"What? A tomb robber?" Steven laughed, "Come on Shu, a tomb robber is like… so… 5000 years ago."

"What?" Bakura rolled his eyes, got behind both the two boys, and shoved them out of the dungeon and into the hallway. He pointed left down the opposing hallway.

"Look, if you guys want to escape, you should probably go that way." Shu and Steven nodded at the same time and turned to run down the hallway.

"Thanks!" Steven called back before they completely disappeared. Bakura chuckled. The minds of children were so easy to trick and so easy to play with. Bakura had to admit, the one thing he truly enjoyed the most was toying with the minds of human beings. They were just so easy to manipulate and fool.

* * *

Seto, Mokuba, Tea, and Yugi walked in silence until they reached the exit of the castle and noticed that there was a virtual portal waiting for them. Mokuba looked up at his brother, "Should we even bother worrying about going through with it?" Mokuba asked, shrugging. Yugi walked ahead of him with Tea by his side, their hands locked within one another.

"What's the point of going through life if you don't take any risks?" Tea said looking over her shoulder at Mokuba. Mokuba rolled his eyes.

"Haven't we taken enough risks already?" Yugi didn't bother listening to Mokuba. He reached for the knob, twisted it, and let the virtual world do the rest. Seto and the others predicted to be stuck in the same virtual maze they seemed to keep going back to. But this time they were in a wide-open field of grass. Tea looked around.

"Well this is odd, I didn't think we'd go here," Tea said, looking around.

"Maybe Noah's giving up?" Yugi suggested. Seto shook his head.

"I doubt it. If he's still the brat he was seven years ago, he's probably just getting started." Tea let go of Yugi's hand in order to let her stretch her arms for a bit. She let out a cute yawn as she did and rubber her eyes.

"I don't know about you, guys, but I'm getting tired," Tea said, running her hand through her smooth brown hair. Mokuba yawned as well.

"Me too." Yugi looked up at the sky. It looked like nightfall was already on its way.

"Weird, it looks like the sun is about to set," Yugi said pointing towards the sky, "Why the sudden change of scenery? I mean, do you think he's planning something?" Yugi asked, looking around, Tea and Mokuba completely ignored his comment.

"You worry too much," Tea said, patting him on the head, "Look over there, let's sleep under that tree!" Tea pointed to the one and only tree that was in the open field that they were stuck in. Seto looked around, not sure if he felt entirely safe even going to bed while at the hands of Noah in this virtual prison.

"I don't know Tea… what if something attacks us while we sleep?" Yugi asked as he followed the others to the tree. Tea sat down and then lay back, putting her hands behind her head and yawning once more.

"Well, if you're that worried you can just stay up and keep watch, cause I'm going to bed." Tea turned on her side and closed her eyes. Yugi lay down beside her, smiling as he watched her slowly fall into a slumber. She was so cute when she was asleep. And so quiet too… that also enhanced her cuteness. Yugi bent over and kissed her softly on the cheek before laying back down on his back and staring up at the sky.

Seto and Mokuba were also lying down nearby under the tree. "Do you really think something's going to attack us while we're asleep?" Mokuba whispered, his eyes scanning the areas for anything that might pop out and kill him. Seto ruffled his hair and smiled.

"Don't worry kiddo, nothing's going to get you while I'm around." Mokuba smiled and wrapped his arms tightly around Seto's arm.

"Thanks Nii-sama…" Mokuba shut his eyes and smiled. Seto looked down at his arms and tried to tug his arm away, but Mokuba wouldn't loosen his grip. Seto tried again, but Mokuba only held on tighter.

"Mokuba…" Seto whispered, trying to pull away from his brother.

"What?" Mokuba opened one eye, giggling.

"Come on, let go." Mokuba shut his eye and shook his head, "Why not?" Mokuba's smile disappeared and he looked away from him.

"Um…" Seto eyed him.

"What? What is it?" Mokuba scooted over closer to his brother and buried his face in Seto's chest. Seto raised one eyebrow and shook him a little. "Mokuba? What's wrong?" Mokuba shook his head.

"I don't know…" Mokuba said in a fragile voice, "I guess I'm just scared of losing you like Mom and Dad…" Seto was slightly surprised to hear Mokuba say that.

"But Mokuba, Mom and Dad died a long time ago. You haven't been scared of losing me since…" Seto realized now what Mokuba was feeling, "You were little." Seto looked down at his younger brother. It was so strange how all four of them would switch between their older and younger mind frames. Mokuba shifted a bit, but kept his head rested on Seto's chest. Seto and Mokuba laid together for a while in silence as the sun made it's final last steps into the horizon and buried itself within the hills in the distance.

Even though it was all virtual and none of it was real, Seto still found it to be quite beautiful and majestic in many ways. He sat there peacefully, letting his brother's small body lay on top of him. "Hey Mokuba…?" Seto said after a few moments quietly. There was no answer. Mokuba was already asleep.

Seto didn't mind; even though he wasn't looking forward too laying there for hours on end, awake, with nothing to do. Ever since the death of his parents, Seto had developed insomnia and found it hard to find sleep. Sometimes he would go days without sleep, and not even notice the difference. Although there had been some days when he had gone too many days without it and discovered that fact when he collapsed randomly at work and went to the hospital shortly afterwards.

After hours of staring into darkness, Seto heard a voice. "Kaiba?" Seto listened closely, but frowned when it appeared to belong to the voice of Yugi. He had almost hoped it was some sort of demon or beast out to get him rather than Yugi. "Kaiba… you awake?"

"Unfortunately," Seto spat, not really wanting to talk to Yugi, but could tell that's where it was going to go. "What do you want, Motou?"

"I don't know… I can't fall asleep, I thought maybe we could talk to each other."

"No."

"Fine then. I'll talk to you," Seto groaned with annoyance. Yugi's childlike attempts were so annoying, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. Yugi sat up and brought his knees up to his chest. His eyes had adapted to the darkness that surrounded them, so he observed the land calmly as he sat. "You know… we've known each other for a while now."

"Really," Seto said in a monotone voice. He would give anything for this conversation to end already.

"Why don't you consider me your friend, Kaiba? I mean… after all we've been through?" Seto glared at him through the darkness, even though Yugi wasn't able to see it.

"Oh, now you want to be my friend after what you said?" Yugi shifted his body so that he was turned more towards Seto's direction, even though he still wasn't totally sure where Seto was actually sitting.

"What are you talking about?"

"At least I MARRIED someone before I had a kid!" Yugi fell silent and looked down in shame, "Ring a bell?" Seto asked, gritting his teeth. Even though they had somehow managed to work together and kill the giant, um, penguin, using teamwork Seto still hated Yugi's guts for what he had said. Yugi bit his lip and twiddled with his thumbs. Now that he remembered what he had said, he felt terrible. It hadn't been right to say something like that to Seto, even if he had been a jerk to him for all those years.

"I'm… I'm sorry, Kaiba… it was uncalled for, and I'm really sorry I said that." Seto growled, turning his head away. As if that was really enough to undo what he had done, didn't Yugi realize Seto put up with that every day in society? How so many people seemed to look down upon him just for that same reason? Seto Kaiba might be one of the richest men in the world, but ever since people had discovered Serenity had left, he was no longer seen with respect. It was a cold and isolating feeling, not a very friendly one at that.

"Ah… it's alright…" Seto finally said, after feeling bad, which was always a new thing for Seto. Yugi was one of those guys that Seto hated with all his heart, but at other times didn't. It was a strange situation. Seto shook his head, deciding that it hurt too much to try and figure out. Even if there wasn't anything to do and he was wide awake. The night went on in silence once more before Yugi spoke up once again.

"Hey Kaiba?" Seto sighed.

"What is it?"

"Um…" Yugi scratched his head, "What's it like being a dad?" Seto looked over at him.

"A dad? Wait… why?! Are you trying to make fun of me again or something Motou cause I swear to God I will kill you with my-"

"No, no, no! That's not it at all! It's just…" Yugi sighed, looking down at Tea with a warm smile on his face. Then the smile disappeared and he looked down at the ground in sorrow, "Tea's been wanting to have a kid for a while now." Seto's eyes widened and he immediately held up his hand.

"NO. We are NOT talking about this now." Yugi looked at him oddly.

"Why not?"

"Its just… weird. I mean, I HATE you. Haven't you realized that yet?"

"Kaiba, please…" Seto sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Fine. What is it you need to know about being a dad?"

"Well… I dunno… I guess I'm just not sure if I'm ready to be a dad yet, you know? I mean it's kind of scary. What if I don't raise him right? What if he's unhappy when he's growing up? What if I'M the reason he's unhappy growing up?" Seto's face melted with the broken memories. He remembered having those exact same feelings when Serenity was pregnant and when Steven was growing up. Seto remembered them almost perfectly and it almost hurt to recall such painful memories. He had been so scared and nervous; and Seto wasn't one to feel such emotions often.

"Well, Yugi… first of all, no one is every ready to be a father," Seto stated.

"But you were ready, weren't you? I mean, I know Steven wasn't exactly planned but…" Yugi blushed a bit, he was thankful it was dark so that Seto wouldn't see, "I don't know, you just seem like you've always known what you were doing when you were taking care of Steven."

"…Really?" Seto was actually surprised to hear this. Yugi had to be the first person that actually thought Seto was a good parent. Make that about the only person that's ever thought he was a good parent. "What makes you say that, Yugi?" Yugi thought for a moment, trying to recall all of Seto's most memorable parental moments in the past seven years.

"I've always felt as though the greatest fathers never told their sons how to live life, they simply lived their life and showed their sons how to live it by their own example," Yugi said, "And pretty much all your life you've held up a good example of being a good guy and standing up for what you believe in. Sure, you have your flaws, but that just makes you… human."

* * *

**A/N:** _So here it ends, well, the chapter at least. So I've had this chapter done for a while now, the only reason I didn't publish it was because I felt nervous that it wasn't good enough. Especially after everyone took to the last chapter(which made me incredibly happy, I really liked that last chapter) I know I didn't go into great detail with either scene, but that's because I keep running out of room! Rest assured, the next chapter will be a great one. I already have it all organized and plan to start work on it after I post this. And on that note, I bid you farewell until the next chapter my darlings!_

_P.S: Is everyone enjoying the long chapters?_


	9. Chapter 8: Welcome to Art 1

Journey maker: Thanks for the review! I'm so glad you're getting the story, cause gosh, sometimes I'm wondering if I know what story I'm writing! It can get pretty confusing with a complex plot. Enjoy the chapter!

AmePiper: Yes, the idea of Seto and Yugi becoming friends is a really scary thought. Like, REALLY scary. I don't think they'll ever really become friends, but we can sure as hell try! And by the way, I MISSED YOU TOO! Not writing this past week or so has been the most painful time of my life and I'm so happy I'm back and writing again. I'm so sorry to have made you wait! Thank you for the review and enjoy the chapter!

Rena Redhead: Dude… there's so much I want to say to you, but I'm so anxious to put this chapter up I don't think I can type it all out. I feel really bad for not writing much of a review response, but I promise to be better next chapter. Honest! Stay awesome and thanks for the review!

Becky the Sexy: Becky, thanks so much for all your help! A lot of this wouldn't have come to life if it hadn't been for your help with organizing all my ideas and such. It was really awesome of you to take the time and listen to me rant about my story for hours on end. I hope this chapter was worth the wait, and thanks for keeping me alive!

Kukki Boo: I'M ALIVE AND HERE'S A CHAPTER!(thanks for the review by the way!)

Chapter 8: Welcome to Art 1

There was a light breeze, causing the tiny blades of grass to blow in its direction. The leaves on the giant oak tree rustled in the wind. There was light warmth that covered the land as the night began its transfer to the early morning. The four children that were situated under the lone oak tree were deep in a slumber, lost within their own thoughts and dreams. All accept one.

Mokuba gave a quiet yawn as his body shifted. He opened one eye and looked around sleepily at the others as they lay silently beside him. Seto's arm was loosely wrapped around Mokuba's small five-year-old frame; Seto's breathing was calm and peaceful. Mokuba made sure to move as slowly as possible to move away from his brother and out of his grasp.

When he was at a safe distance, he stretched his limps and muscles to relieve his body of sleep. Mokuba turned around and found that the sun was just making it's way over the horizon. Endless grass fields lay before him that seemed to stretch for miles. Mokuba felt a sudden urge to run as fast and as far as he could. He wanted to run towards the light and be free.

Without another thought, Mokuba sprinted ahead. The grass was still damp with the morning dew, squishing beneath his feet as he ran on. He threw his head up to stare up at the sky. The sky was like the grass fields it could almost go on forever and was filled with endless possibilities. Mokuba held out his arms and ran even faster; he loved the feeling of his heart pumping, the feeling that he was alive and free.

It was a glorious moment and Mokuba didn't want it to end. He felt, as though he could run across those fields for eternity, he never wanted to stop. Mokuba had always loved the idea of running away from reality, to a place where there was no pain or suffering. Just happiness and freedom. Although it was a childish dream, Mokuba couldn't help but believe that dream could be true, running through those endless fields.

Mokuba's body then collided with something hard, sending him to the ground. He was instantly brought back into reality and the happiness had soon left him as he looked up to find Johnson standing before them. Johnson pushed his glasses further up his face, "Why, hello there Mokuba. Did you have a nice run?"

Mokuba pushed himself away and tried to jump to his feet when Johnson reached for his arm and grabbed it. "Now, now, Mokuba. There's no need to run. I'm just going to take you to Noah, don't you want to see your brother?"

"Get off me now, Johnson!" Mokuba spat, trying to jerk away his arm. But his efforts were futile, and his arm remained firmly gripped in Johnson's.

"Come Mokuba, we wouldn't want to keep him waiting." Mokuba glared at him.

"If you don't get off me now, you're going to be in big trouble." Johnson chuckled.

"Oh really? What are you going to do? Yell for your big brother?"

"Yep, that's exactly what I plan to do," Johnson's smile went away. Mokuba sucked in as much air as he could before letting out one big, loud yell. "NII-SAMA!" Johnson forced his hand over Mokuba's mouth and shoved him to the ground.

"You little brat! You'd think you'd be a little more of a man than that!" Mokuba pushed his hand away.

"If you haven't noticed, I'm in the body of a five-year-old, so I can do whatever I want."

"Get your filthy hands off my brother, Johnson!" Seto barked from across the field. Johnson looked up to see Seto, accompanied by Tea and Yugi, running across the hill over to where he stood. Johnson sighed and forced Mokuba to his feet.

"You'd think you would've grown out of that after seven years, huh Kaiba?"

"I'll never stop protecting my brother, Johnson! Now let him go before I really give you a pounding!" Seto threatened, ready to fight Johnson for his brother if necessary. Johnson shrugged; making it look as though now taking his brother only bored him. Pulling Mokuba in front of him, Johnson gave the child a good shove and let him fall into Seto's arms.

"Fine, you can have him for now… but Noah will get his brother back," Johnson stepped to the side, and a virtual door appeared behind him, "For now, why not enter through this door?"

"When are you going to let us go, Johnson?! We've had enough with you're silly games!" Yugi yelled.

"Silly? You make it sound like you've been playing a harmless children's card game. Didn't the past two challenges scare you?" Tea shook her head.

"Nu-uh! Not us! We're the best!" Tea exclaimed proudly.

"It's good to hear you're all so confident in yourselves, but my judgment says that this next challenge will prove you wrong."

"Just step aside, Johnson, we'll take whatever you throw at us," Seto barked, making his way past Johnson and gripping the door. Seto's ego had to be the most powerful forces on the planet, and in some ways would drive him to do crazy things. Seto saw this as no longer a race to escape the virtual world, but more of a way to prove Johnson wrong.

"Suit yourself," Johnson said, just as Seto opened the door and let the white lights flash before his eyes. Everyone braced himself or herself for a frightening sight, or an unusually difficult game that determined life or death. Instead they found that once the scene around them settled, they stood in front of a lowly classroom doorway. Above the door read "Room 36" painted on the wall.

Yugi looked around, expecting some sort of monster or scary man to run down the hallway waving a knife and/or gun in his hands. Instead the hallway was quiet and peaceful, and it didn't appear that any sort of murderer was coming for them. Tea was about to speak when they heard the knob being twisted from inside the room. Their bodies tensed as they readied to face the worst of it all.

Instead they saw a seemingly short woman with a slight hunch on her back open the door. Her hair was a dark, curly brown, slightly messy to say the least. The woman's glasses gleamed a bit from the light in the hallway. She seemed harmless enough, but there was a eerie feeling that followed. She looked both ways down the hall, before looking at them again.

"Well I guess you must be the new students that transferred in here," She said, pushing the door open further, "Come on, then. Class is just about to start." The four of them followed her into a somewhat strange classroom. "My name is Ms. Darochell, and welcome to Art 1."

Mokuba tried to stifle a laugh, "Art 1? This is our next challenge? Geez… you'd think they'd want to torture us by sending us to math class or something…" Mokuba whispered. Ms. Darochell's eyes fell on Mokuba, and a chill ran down his back. There was something not quite right about that woman.

"We're all so glad to have you here, and now that you are, we'll begin by pairing you into groups," she said, looking around the room. There were six other students scattered about in the room, their eyes full of fear. It didn't appear that the students were afraid of them, but that every time Ms. Darochell spoke, there was an uncertain feeling in the air.

Seto, of course, didn't notice this chilling feeling one bit. "I'll pair up with my younger brother, Mokuba," Seto stated, pulling Mokuba over to his side. Ms. Darochell shook her head.

"I'm sorry, but I'd rather have you pair up with Kori over there," Ms. Darochell pointed over to the quiet, red headed girl sitting at the square black table. She gave a small wave in Seto's direction as a sign of welcome but her eyes were filled with worry.

"Oh, well, Ms. Darochell, I was just hoping I could be with my brother… you know, since-" Ms. Darochell's eyes narrowed and her voice became forceful.

"Look Seto, this is MY classroom and MY class. I am the teacher and you WILL do as I say!" She commanded, her voice terrifyingly loud. Seto blinked, slightly taken back by her sudden outburst.

"Oh, but Ms. Darochell-"

"Seto, this isn't some LEMONADE stand, okay? This is ART 1. This is a very serious class and you WILL be required to take it seriously," Her voice became darker as she utter two words, "…Or else." Yugi, Tea, and Mokuba fell completely silent and knew that it would be wise not to protest any further. Seto saw this differently.

"A lemonade stand?"

"You will do as I say, now sit down!" She yelled, angrily pointing toward Kori. Seto ran over to the table and sat down. Ms. Darochell turned back around and looked at the other three. "Now you…" Her eyes fell on Mokuba, "Mokuba. Go sit over there with Rain." Her finger now pointed at a girl with sparkling brown eyes and brown hair pulled into a ponytail. Rain gave Mokuba a friendly smile as the boy walked over to the seat beside her.

"And now… you," Ms. Darochell eyed Tea, "What's your name?"

"Um… Tea?"

"Okay Tea, why don't you sit at that table with Lillian?" Tea nodded and walked over to the girl who was sitting at the green table. Her hair was blonde and her eyes green; but she never looked at Tea. Lillian gave off angry vibration as she glared at the teacher directing the new students to their seats. "And you…"

"Yugi Motou, ma'am."

"Don't get smart with me." Yugi gave her a puzzled look.

"What?"

"Go sit with Ellie. You could learn a lot about art from her." Yugi shrugged and walked over to the girl who already appeared to be sketching away in her little sketchbook and only looked up for a brief moment when Yugi sat down next to her. Her eyes immediately returned back to, what appeared to be, an elegant drawing of a floating eye in space. "Now the rest of you carry on with your drawings while I take attendance," Ms. Darochell commanded, sitting down by the computer near her desk.

Seto eyed Ms. Darochell. She was truly a strange human being; he didn't quite understand her logic, of how she had anything to do with Johnson's challenge. Kori poked him on the shoulder and stole his attention from Ms. Darochell. "I only have one question for you," she began, "What exactly were you thinking when you transferred into this class?" Seto raised one eyebrow.

"What are you talking about?" Kori rolled her eyes.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. Everyone knows Ms. Darochell is the most demonic teacher in this whole entire school!" Kori whispered.

"It's true, actually," Rain said, twisting around and facing Kori and Seto's direction, "You guys have to be the 20th students to transfer in here."

"What happened to the other students?" Mokuba asked.

"No one really knows… Ms. Darochell has random fits of anger and sends students off to detention on a daily basis. The only thing we know about what happens after that is that we don't see the students that leave ever again…" Rain said in a suspenseful tone. Seto wasn't buying it. How could some art teacher be any kind of threat?

"So why are you two still here?" Seto asked.

"Apparently we're the students that happen to be on her good side… if you can even say that," Kori said, looking at Ms. Darochell with frightful eyes, "Not even the favorite students get it easy. She still inflicts terror upon us."

"It's true… see that kid over there?" Rain asked, pointing towards a short, feeble boy whom was crouching over a piece of paper and seemed to be very focused on what he was creating, "That's Skyler. He's Ms. Darochell's favorite student."

"What? Are you trying to say he doesn't get it easier than us?" Skyler moved for a moment and finished his piece with one last swipe of his pencil. He stared at it for a very long time before standing back and looking at it from afar. Another boy whom was sitting close by asked him what he had made. Skyler held up the large paper, revealing a complex and well thought out plan that would end with suicide.

Ms. Darochell got up from her computer and looked down at the piece of paper, "What a great job, Skyler! You are truly gifted, that has to be the best self-portrait I've seen yet! A+!" Mokuba gulped.

"Yeah… Skyler has tried killing himself in this class about 50 times now…" Kori said solemnly, "And every time he does, it fails and she calls it art." Rain shook her head.

"It's so hard to see him fail so many times… although I suppose we can't really blame him."

"What do you mean?" Rain and Kori looked at one another for a moment.

"Well, we sort of… tried to kill ourselves too." Mokuba nearly fell over after she had made the comment.

"WHAT?! What's wrong with you people??"

"You don't realize where you are, do you? This Art 1… better known as the darkest pit of hell. The only way to escape is to either defeat the demon or kill yourself. Otherwise, you're stuck here pretty much until the day you die."

* * *

The only thing she could hear was the sound of her feet crashing against the gravel of the ground and the pounding in her chest. Kisara's long, light blue hair was flowing through the air as she ran as fast as she could down the seemingly deserted streets of Egypt. It was a dark day, and many of the families had retreated into their homes and refused to come out since the civil war first broke out. But there, Kisara was, running along the streets on her own, heading straight for the Pharaoh's palace.

As she approached the palace, there were two guards holding spears by their sides standing in front. When their eyes first spotted her, they got into a defensive position and ordered her to halt. Kisara did not listen or even plan to stop, as she approached both the men and managed to swiftly dive and dodge both their spears being lunged at her.

"GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!" One of them yelled from behind her, but her mind was in another place and she could care less what she wanted to do. All she knew was what she had to do and what needed to be done, for the sake of her son.

Kisara twisted around a sharp corner and ran into some sort of meeting room, where three of the sacred guardians were standing together discussing the next plan of action only to turn and stare at Kisara. She froze up as their eyes fell on her, and her legs began to shake. Isis was the first to step forward.

"My lady, are you alright? You look as though you are running away from something," Isis said in a comforting voice. Kisara gulped and shook her head.

"No, I'm fine. Please… I need to see the Pharaoh." Karim eyed her suspiciously.

"What business do you have with the Pharaoh?"

"Please… I need to see him right away," Kisara pleaded, hoping that the guardians would see that she was being truthful and let her see the Pharaoh. But it was obvious that Karim was unmoved, but it was obvious that Shada felt some sort of concern for the poor girl.

"Please Karim, do not be so cold-hearted," Shada turned his attention back to Kisara, "If I may, could I ask what it is you want to ask of the Pharaoh? You know it is a time of war and our leader cannot be distracted by small requests from villagers."

"I'm looking for my son," Kisara spat, becoming impatient with them, "I need to know where the Pharaoh is. NOW."

"Well, he's in the main corridor, but I think I can be-" Kisara turned away and headed back down the hallway that she had come from before Isis could finish. Kisara hated to be rude to such one of the sacred guardians that she was aware had always worked to protect the people of Egypt, but now was not a time to be respectful. She needed answers, and someone to turn to.

Kisara sprinted into the main corridor where Atem was seating on top of his seat, talking with Shimon and two other men who worked within the main city. "Seth had already taking over much of Egypt and he's heading towards this village next… he must be stopped!" One of the men proclaimed, his spear in hand.

"We are well aware of Seth's whereabouts, the main thing we have to worry about is how we can push back the battle to a safe location where no one can get hurt," Shimon stated.

"But there is no time to plan out strategies that suit the people of Egypt, we have an evil tyrant who's got an army and most of Egypt at his hands!" The other man yelled, sounding as though he were ready for war. Shimon turned towards Atem, who had been sitting quietly in his seat, listening to both sides of the argument with much interest and thought.

"What do you think, Pharaoh?" Shimon asked, "Should we risk it to push Seth back?"

"Um… excuse me," Kisara said in a quiet voice, just now realizing that she was actually standing before the pharaoh, THEE pharaoh, and finding a bit of stage fright take over her voice. Shimon and the two other men turned towards her. "I need to speak with the Pharaoh… please."

"And who might you be?" Shimon asked.

"My name is… Kisara," Kisara looked down at the ground, but then back up at the pharaoh with a much more determined face, "Great Pharaoh, I am in need of your help. My son, Shu, has been kidnapped and I must find him before it's too late."

"You cannot ask such a request of the Pharaoh, especially not in a time of war!" Atem held up his hand and silenced Shimon as he looked up at Kisara.

"Your son is Shu, the servant boy?" Kisara nodded, she hoped he didn't notice how much her legs were shaking because the truth was even though Atem was obviously there for the good of all Egypt, he still scared her in some ways.

"Yes sir."

"Well… Kisara, I'm sorry for your loss… but at this point in time, I am unable to do anything at this point. If you haven't noticed, the fate of Egypt is at risk of being taken over by one of my former guardians."

"I know that, sir. But… you don't understand. I have to find him…" Kisara tried to fight back tears, "He's my only son! And… And I don't know if I can explain it, but I know that Shu's disappearance and Seth's betrayal are related!" Atem raised one eyebrow; she seemed to know a lot more than any common villager should know of the current civil war he was in.

"And how do you know all of this? What makes you think that Shu's disappearance is related to Seth's sudden change of heart?" Kisara bit her lip. She wanted more than anything in the world to tell Atem exactly what had been going on, but deep down she still wanted to keep her promise to Seth and keep his secret safe. After all, at one point in time she had loved him and trusted him, as he had trusted her.

"I… Pharaoh, I wish I could tell you more than anything in the world… but I can't! But you have to help me, please… I'm begging you… I need to find my son!" Shimon shook his head and started gesturing for her to leave.

"I'm sorry Kisara, but the Pharaoh is simply too busy to help you. Come back when the civil war is over," Kisara shook her head, looking back up at Atem whom had looked away from Kisara's gaze. Atem knew a search party for a simple servant boy was not one that could be organized at this time. Kisara's heart ripped in two. "You know the way out."

Kisara twisted around and ran out before they could see the tears seeping from her eyes. How could he let her down like that? How could he turn his back so quickly on a desperate mother looking for his child? Was no one willing to help her on her search? Kisara shook her head; she couldn't believe that the Pharaoh wasn't going to help her. How could se possibly find Shu on her own?

Kisara knew that whatever was going on that caused Seth to become this way and Shu to be kidnapped was bigger than her, she knew she couldn't do it alone. So how was she going to save her son? She continued to think those thoughts as she let her body run out of the palace and back onto the dark streets of Egypt. The skies were no longer blue and hopeful, but gray with signs of death and destruction.

Kisara started panting, her feet beginning to feel numb as they pounded on the gravel below her feet. What was she going to do? Kisara finally stopped at one point and stood completely still, letting her tears fall to the ground. She felt as though she was never going to see her son again. She was so scared.

"I know a way to get to your son… I can help you find him," a mysterious voice said from a nearby-darkened alleyway. Kisara looked up and towards the place where the voice had come from. A man stepped out of the shadows in that moment, a turban on his head and long white robes hanging from his body as if he were a sacred guardian himself. "My name is Shadi, and if you wish to see your son, you must first seek the help of other individuals seeking the same goal."

* * *

**A/N:** _I AM SO SORRY! Dude, GOSH! Well, I actually haven't gotten my chord, but at this point I couldn't stand not writing so I ended up having to borrow my step mom's computer chord(which luckily is the exact same old as crap model as my laptop) So, like I promised, here is a finished chapter! I am so sorry for the delay, believe me, if you thought you were dying just imagine how painful it was for me! But at least it's given me a lot of time to organize my ideas and write them all out and believe me, you will be seeing another chapter SUPER SOON because I am going to be writing like there's no tomorrow to make up for so much lost time. Thank you so much for your patience and I hope you all have forgiven me for being a fail! Look forward to the next chapter being posted real soon!_


	10. Chapter 9: Classroom of Broken Dreams

Kukki Boo: Surprisingly, yes, I am still alive. Although I'm sure you were probably questioning that fact considering this is yet another late update, but I've been trying to my hardest to set things right and update as much as I can. Thanks for the review and enjoy the chapter!

Rena Redhead: Yes, I did try my hardest on that Art 1 scene. I think you'll like the rest of the scene that I portray in this chapter as well. But who wouldn't? I mean, demonstrating the pain and suffering of one whole year in an Art class is totally cool and hip. Wow… I have no life. But that's okay! Cause that fact contributes to the fact that I write so much! Anyways, thanks for the lovely review my darling, and I certainly hope you enjoy the chapter!

AmePiper: Hello honey! I miss you terribly! I hope you're not mad because of all my late updates(even though I'm totally kicking myself for failing you all so miserably) But I'm going to try my hardest and make it up to you. How are you by the way? How's life? Is everything going well? I haven't heard from you in a while, and hurts knowing that. I hope everything is going smoothly, and that you enjoy this chapter!

Journey Maker: Thanks for your review and I hope you enjoy this chapter for I once was lost, but now I'm found!

I'm so sorry for all the delays! I hope they will cease soon!

Chapter 9: Classroom of Broken Dreams 

"Okay class… class, I want it quiet!" Ms. Darochell demanded, and within a second the whole room hushed down and there wasn't a sound that was made. She looked around the room with her hands on her hips, "Now that I have your attention… today we will be drawing an animal. It can be any animal of your choice, but make sure to use lots of shading so you can give me a real seven layer bean burrito." Seto turned towards Kori, who shrugged and mouthed that she would explain later. "No talking, and make sure you really try your hardest to get the shading just right."

The sounds of paper and pencils clashing against one another was heard as the class began its work on their project of the day. Tea had a smile on her face as she began to create the griffin-like creature that had appeared in her mind and was becoming alive on the paper. Tea was actually excited about being in this class, for she had always had a way with art and loved to sketch in her free time on the weekends. She couldn't wait to show Ms. Darochell her wonderful creation when it was done.

Across the room, Yugi was sitting there, staring at the piece of paper blankly. Unlike Tea, Yugi had no artistic abilities whatsoever. Not to mention the fact that he had to be the least creative person the face of the earth. Sure, he could always think up new strategies to use in a duel, but when it came to art and drawing, well, he was kind of like Tristan. There was no skill to be found.

"You should probably start drawing," Ellie recommended, not looking up from her work, "She'll see you." Yugi raised one eyebrow.

"See me?" Suddenly the chilling feeling that he had felt before had returned as he looked up to find Ms. Darochell hovering over him with eyes like a hawk.

"What are you doing, Mr. Motou?"

"Uh… trying to think of animal to draw?"

"Look Yugi, I don't like having slackers in my class. This isn't some joke, this is art and it is a very serious matter. I know you're all new and you probably think this class is simply a 'joke' but believe me, this is a very serious class." Yugi stared at her, puzzled. He didn't understand how him sitting there had made it look like he didn't take it seriously. But obviously his silence only angered her more. "Look bud, do you want to go to ISA? Do YOU?"

Suddenly the room fell completely silent and Ellie looked up from her work in fear. "Uh-NO MA'AM!" Yugi responded quickly without another thought.

"That was the right answer… now I suggest you begin on your drawing right now before I change my mind." Ms. Darochell finally wandered away and Yugi let out his breath.

"Wow… that was a close one," Ellie commented.

"Um… what is ISA?"

"It's the place that teachers send you when you're bad, but Ms. Darochell likes to abuse that power. That's where most of our former students went."

"And where exactly is ISA? What does it even stand for?"

"No one's really sure… but it can't possibly be good."

"It's true," Lillian said after over hearing the conversation from the table beside theirs, "Every students that's ever gone there has never come back. People say it stands for Internal Suffering Association… a place where kids are tortured for all eternity." Seto rolled his eyes. This was becoming way too weird for him to believe, how could any third rate art teacher be a threat?

"Seto," Seto jumped and twisted around to find the demon herself standing behind him, eyeing his work carefully, "Why don't you try focusing on your work, rather than chatting with your friends? The fur on the lion needs a lot more shading. If you ever hope to pass this class, you better start listening to me."

"I wasn't talking, and I think my lion looks just fine," Seto said plainly.

"Excuse me?"

"I said my drawing looks fine, I don't see how it needs more shading." Kori shut her eyes and buried her head in her arms in fear as Ms. Darochell's eyes began to glow. She flipped out a paintbrush that had been tightly gripped in her hand and held it in the air. A blade flipped out from the bottom and Seto's eyes widen.

"If you even DREAM of getting an A on that, you'll PUT SOME MORE SHADING ON IT." With the blade closing in on his hand, his pencil jumped back onto the paper and began to shade in the lion like his life depended on it. Ms. Darochell flipped her knife back into the paintbrush and nodded her head in approval.

Mokuba watched as Ms. Darochell turned her back and started walking towards the front of the room. He turned his head, "Nii-sama!" Mokuba whispered. Ms. Darochell stopped and twisted around immediately.

"NO TALKING!" Mokuba shut his mouth completely and turned back around. He nervously took his pencil up with his hand and continued his drawing on a whale.

"Wow… she's kind of…"

"A demon? Yeah, that's what we believe her to be," Rain whispered, pretending to be doing her work but instead seeing no point in continuing what she had already made. Rain looked over at Kori. "Do you think we should tell them?"

"Why not? Everyone deserves to have a little hope." Seto raised one eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" Rain leaned over to the side a bit so she could be heard more clearly within her quiet tone.

"Well you see… there was this girl once, a long time ago… who was in this class. She was… a little odd, slightly insane, and Kori and I always believed her to be some sort of hyperactive murderer." Mokuba and Seto blinked, not exactly sure what to say or how to feel about where this story was going.

"But other than that, she was kind of… nice, to say the least. She once told of a prophecy…"

"Oh no, here we go again," Seto rolled his eyes.

"She believed there was a way to slay the demon and gain freedom at last."

"Well, what did she say?"

"She didn't say anything," Kori turned and pointed towards a lone collage taped to the wall. The image was of one girl with short brown hair, with various pictures surrounding her enlarged head. There were also little bits of words and sentences pasted around the different figures. "Within those words is the method to bring down the demon of fire and save the Art 1 class from our imminent doom."

"That's all? All she left for you guys is a collage of random words and pictures? How is that supposed to help us?" Seto frowned, and gave a low growl. He had a son to save, and instead the Big 5 stuck him in this stupid art class with yet another prophecy left for him to decode.

"It's the only thing we can call hope…" Rain said sadly, "I use to love doing art, but now Ms. Darochell has led me to only despising it." Rain took up the piece of paper she had in front of her and ripped it in half. Mokuba frowned and took the two pieces.

"Hey… you shouldn't rip your artwork… especially not a good artist like you," Mokuba tried to fit the pieces back together again. Rain shook her head and looked out the window sadly.

"It's no use now… it's all worthless." Mokuba's eyes widened as he pieced the artwork back together again to reveal an amazing picture of a blank doing blank. Kori sniffled as she tried to hold back tears.

"It's true… by now we've lost all hope…" Kori buried her face into her hands as she tried to hide her face from Seto's gaze, "I just wish I could see my boyfriend one last time… I miss Richard so much…" As strange as it was, Seto felt incredibly guilty watching these two girls have their dreams ripped apart. He wasn't one to care for others, but if slaying this so-called demon would allow him his freedom and give these two girls hope once more, Seto would do what was necessary to bring Ms. Darochell down.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Tea was already hard at work to perfecting her image of a graceful stallion galloping through a valley. Lillian looked at the drawing with a saddened face.

"Man… I feel bad for you. It looks like you're a pretty good artist." Tea took her eyes off of her creation to look at Lillian, slightly puzzled by her statement.

"I don't understand, why would you say that?"

"Because Ms. Darochell is never happy with what anyone creates and if a true artists creates something beautiful… well, let's just say the real artists are the ones that get their feelings hurt a lot in here," Lillian glanced over at Kori and Rain, "Those two are fantastic artists… but Ms. Darochell has completely shattered their confidence. I'd hate to see the same happen to you. Artists are people who should be praised, not hurt."

Tea bit her lip; she couldn't believe how hard all of these students had had it in this class. But could Lillian really be telling the truth? Could a class really be that bad? Sure, Ms. Darochell didn't seem like the most kind or patient of all the teachers she had dealt with over the years; but she didn't seem as bad as everyone had been making her out to be. Could it be that they had all be exaggerating?

"Well, while I do feel bad for what has happened to both Kori and Rain, I do feel as though Ms. Darochell will have no problem with what I have to offer her," Tea took up the finished drawing in hand and started walking towards Ms. Darochell. Lillian looked on and sighed. She didn't know whether she should tell Tea to stop or simply watch the scene play out accordingly.

"Ms. Darochell, I've completed the task," Tea said proudly, holding out her drawing in plain view, "I think you will be quite pleased."

"Hm…" Ms. Darochell said, looking at the drawing more closely, "It's good but… the head is all wrong." Tea's eye twitched.

"W-What do you mean?? The head is fine!" Ms. Darochell shook her head.

"I'm sorry but it just won't do." Tea stood there, speechless. No one had ever disagreed with her work; most had come to adoring it. But this woman… she couldn't possibly be an art teacher to see such flaws in it. Tea growled in frustration and sat back down at the table, ripping out a whole new sheet of paper and violently drawing something she knew Ms. Darochell couldn't resist. Lillian sighed.

"I hate to say it, but I told you so." Tea ignored her and continued to work. Yugi shrugged and turned back in Kori and Rain's direction.

"Well, now Tea's upset. She'll probably be at that for a while now… what were you guys saying? A prophecy to defeat Ms. Darochell?" Kori nodded. Yugi looked over at the collage for himself. It was the oddest thing, none of the words looked like they made any sense.

"Death… Fire… Demon… Water… Melt… Death…?" Seto crossed his arms.

"What kind of prophecy is that?! It doesn't even make any sense!" Seto stated in anger, "This whole thing is just one big trick… I just know it." Mokuba cocked his head to the side, staring at the poster with deep interest.

"Death… the people who have died… fire… power the fire within her eyes… demon… the one who has imprisoned us… water… can be doused with water… melt… and then melt… death… and then she will die." Kori, Yugi, Seto, and Rain all stared at Mokuba.

"Wait… did you just figure out what all those words meant?" Mokuba got up and walked over to the class sink. Rain brought her hands to her face.

"Oh no! If Ms. Darochell sees him, he'll go to ISA for sure!" Kori stood up and held out her hand.

"Ms. Darochell!" Kori called, "I need your help!" Ms. Darochell turned in the opposite direction of Mokuba.

"Yes Kori, I'll be there shortly." Now all eyes were on Mokuba, whom was calmly filling a small bucket full of water. It wasn't long before the bucket was nearly full and Mokuba turned off the water. "Mokuba?" The whole class was quiet as Ms. Darochell spotted Mokuba from across the classroom. "What are you doing?"

Mokuba walked over to her with the bucket in hand. Her eyes widened and her hand reached for her deadly paintbrush. "Don't.you.DARE!" Just as she managed to flip her blade out, Mokuba dumped the whole bucket all over Ms. Darochell, her body was soaked from head to toe. All the students sat and held their breath, and time stood still. "No… NO!"

Ms. Darochell proceeded to melt right before their eyes, crying for help and proclaiming her revenge. "I'LL BE BACK!" She yelled, just before she was reduced to a puddle of water. The whole class was silent for a moment, just before the room exploded with cheers and cries.

"We're free!"

"We did it!"

"Ding dong, the demon's dead!" Rain and Kori were jumping up and down, hugging one another. It wasn't long before everyone in the room had resorted to hugging one another and crying with joy, everyone except one person.

"I'm done!" Tea declared, holding up her piece of paper. The class fell silent. "Ms. Darochell?"

"Um… she's dead, dude," Connor explained.

"Dead?"

"Yeah, she's right there," Skyler pointed to the puddle on the ground. Tea eyed him.

"Are you guys serious?" They all nodded. Tea sighed and ripped her drawing in half. "Oh well." Seto turned his attention back to Mokuba.

"Mokuba… how did you figure out that she could be killed with water?"

"I don't know; to tell you the truth I just made the whole thing up."

"…What?"

"Yeah… I only did that cause I thought it would be funny."

"…I guess it doesn't really matter why he did it, just that he did and now we're free," Kori and Rain agreed, "I hope we'll see you again some day in the future!" They both raced out of the room in joy and happiness, as did the other students in the classroom. Soon only Tea, Yugi, Mokuba, and Seto remained.

"This has been one weird challenge after another…" Tea said, shaking her head, "I'm hoping this means it'll be all over soon." Suddenly the scene disappeared and there was laughing to be heard from all around them. Whiteness surrounded them, the four became alert and looked around the room for their enemy.

"I think I'd know that laugh from anywhere…"

"Noah…" Noah's image appeared before them, as well as the image of Lector and Nezbit.

"You four put on quite a good show… it almost breaks my heart to have to separate all of your from one another."

"What are you talking about?" Nezbit disappeared and re-appeared behind Tea, taking both her arms and holding them behind her back.

"Yugi!" Tea called out.

"Tea!" Yugi tried to run towards her, but Lector flew right in front of him and restrained him as well. "LET HER GO!" Yugi yelled, flailing his body in an effort to get out of Lector's lock around him. A portal appeared behind Nezbit just as he had turned. Nezbit shoved Tea through the portal and walked through himself before the portal disappeared. The same happened for Yugi with Lector. "TEA!" Yugi called one last time before he was gone. Only the two brothers remained.

"Don't think for a second that you're going to separate me from my brother, Noah!" Seto declared, standing firmly in front of Mokuba. Mokuba was clutching to the back of Seto's shirt as he stood behind him.

"Think again, Seto." Noah snapped his fingers and Mokuba was forcefully pulled through the air into Noah's arms, "He's my brother now."

"Don't even think about taking him away from me Noah… I swear, I will rip you apart piece by virtual piece if you don't unhand him this instant!" Seto held his fist in the air, "I will not have another person taken from me!"

"Oh Seto… if only life were that simple for you…" Another portal appeared behind Noah as he started to start walking backwards towards it, "But don't worry, there's someone waiting to see you" Noah disappeared into the black portal with Mokuba locked in his arms. Seto was alone now.

But not for long.

* * *

The long hallways grew dark with despair. There was a cold chill that wisped through the air, calling forth fallen souls that sought revenge. There wasn't a sound to be heard, except for the burning wood from the torches that hung from the sides of the walls, and of course the voices of the two boys walking along these corridors of fear.

"…I spy with my little eye something… brown!" Steven put his hand up to his chin and rubbed it a bit.

"Hm… is it my hair?"

"Nope."

"Your hair?"

"Nope."

"Is it… the wood from the torches?"

"Nope."

"Is it… hey, there's a door!" Steven pointed ahead.

"Nope, it was actually my sandals."

"No, no, really look. There's a door over there!" Steven said, running ahead and over to the door that was in front of them, marking the end of the seemingly endless hallway. Shu quickly jogged behind him until they both reached the door. They stared at it with huge and curious eyes. Steven looked around.

"So I guess this is a dead end, then."

"Now what do we do?"

"I guess there's nothing else we really can do… except go in of course." Shu turned his head towards Steven.

"Uh… I don't know, Steven. Are you sure? Maybe we shouldn't…" Shu said nervously, looking around the empty hallway for an alternate route they could possibly take. But there was none. It all came down to this single dead end.

"It's our only choice, Shu, unless you want to turn back and run into those two thugs who kidnapped us again." Shu sighed.

"Fine… I guess we have to, don't we?" Steven nodded and reached for the doorknob, Shu shut his eyes and flinched at the sound of the old metal door creaking open. Shu opened one eye to see a completely dark room in front of them. "Well… that was a waste of anxiety."

"Hold on," Steven walked back and grabbed a torch from one of the holders in the hallway, "There, now we can go in." Steven held out the torch in front of him as he took baby steps into the unknown room with Shu clinging to his back. From what little light the torch produced, it appeared as though the room was completely empty.

"…Now can we go back?" Shu asked, looking into Steven's face. The door screeched behind them and slammed closed, causing Shu to jump with fear. "Okay, now I'm scared!" Steven twisted around, waving his torch in the air.

"Who's there?!" Steven yelled, shifting his torch in all different directions, "Show yourself!" Shu broke away from his strong hold on Steven's shirt and wandered back over to the door. He grasped the knob in his hand and tried to pry it open, but it seemed to be jammed shut.

"Um… Steven? I think we're stuck…" Steven quickly walked back over to Shu and pulled him over to his side.

"Don't worry, we'll be okay as long as we stick together. I'm sure there's another way of getting out of here." Shu gulped and nodded. He hoped more than anything in the world that Steven was right, because he hated the idea of being trapped.

With his hand stretched out and guiding the way, he slowly moved along the wall, looking all around for any sort of sign of a way out. Shu stared at the designs and pictures engraved into the wall. "That's weird…" Shu said quietly, "It looks like this is some kind of… shrine for snakes… or something."

"Snakes?" Steven took a deep breath, "I don't like the sound of that." At some point they finally stopped once they hit the corner of the room and realized there was some sort of statue jutting out from the side of the wall. Steven turned and held out the torch in his hand in the statue's direction. Steven and Shu's eyes widened.

The statue was, what appeared to be, a serpent like creature that had three heads instead of one and was extended out with it's mouth open, as if it were about to devour it's next meal. Steven took a couple steps back.

"Maybe this is the part where we turn around and run…" Something brushed against Steven's ankle. Steven yelled and dropped the torch onto the ground. Shu ran over to his side in response.

"Steven, are you…?" There were snakes that surrounded them from all directions; their tongues shot in and out of their mouths and their eyes were focused on the two boys standing in front of them. "…What do we do now?" The snakes were already slithering closer and closer to them, moving in for the kill. Shu looked from the snakes to Steven, looking for any kind of sign of a plan. There was none to be found on Steven's frightened face.

"Uh… Uh… RUN!" Steven shouted. In a split second one snake managed to fling itself into the air and right at Shu. Shu screamed and held out his arms in defense. Steven held his breath and shut his eyes from fear. Everything went deathly quiet.

Shu stood completely still, looking around at the strange green glow that surrounded his body like a protective bubble. Steven was standing still as well, not sure whether to be happy or afraid of this newfound force that had just protected Shu from being attacked by the venomous snake. The snakes were now hissing in fury, another attempted to do the same thing.

"Watch out!" Steven shouted, jumping in front of Shu. Another green, glowing force field formed around Steven just as the snake tried to sink it's teeth into Steven's neck. The protective orb deflected the snake and sent it flying to the ground. Steven blinked, slightly confused as to what had just happened. The snakes began to recoil in fear and disappeared into the shadows of the room.

"What… I'm… confused." Shu asked, wondering whether or not it was safe to reach out and try to touch the green orb around him.

"I'm just as confused as you are… any idea what we did that might've created this?"

"Not a clue." the green orbs exploded in unison and lit the room revealing a hidden doorway on the other side of the room. It instantly disappeared afterwards leaving Shu completely unharmed. "Do you think going down that hallway is our best bet?"

"It's better than standing around waiting for those snakes to get us. I'm not sure if those weird bubbles will be back to protect us if they come back."

"Good point." Without another moment to lose, they sprinted off down the next unfriendly corridor unsure as to what they would run into or what they might discover along the way.

* * *

**A/N:** _Gosh guys… I am so sorry for everything. I mean, I promised you so many things, and yet here I am, with another late update. Seriously, I feel terrible. I hope you guys can find it in your heart to forgive me, cause I really do feel bad. I'm currently on vacation, but that doesn't mean I'm on vacation from my story. This chapter was really hard to plot out and I did end up re-writing it a couple times over before I actually got to, well, what you just read now. So I hope you understand. I'll try my very best to get the next chapter up and running very soon. I hope you guys are still by my side, cause I love you kids and you make it all worth it._

_P.S: This chapter is dedicated to all of those who have survived the Art 1 class this year. You may have thought it was all just 'oh another random/weird Kari story idea' but NO. It was all REAL(well, most of it exaggerated, but at the same time not… it's kinda hard to explain) Anyways, it's been a long year for Art 1 students, but now we're finally free!_


	11. Ch 10: The Truth is that The Truth Hurts

Journey Maker: Oh man, she was a witch, wasn't she? I know it seems like this story keeps dragging on and on, but I swear it'll get interesting soon! I'm hoping to explain a lot of things in this chapter(but first I have to try and figure out what the heck is going on myself before I can actually apply it to my actual story, lol) Thanks for the review!

AmePiper: Oh SWEET I'm still funny! Awesome! Wasn't sure if I was losing my touch or not, I've been so focused on trying to get my game back that I've neglected trying to keep up with the humor in my story, but at least you still get it! I kind of want them to be in their real bodies too, I hate feeling like this story is just dragging on and on without any real direction(I swear I have a plot, I promise to make this story go somewhere soon!) Missed the randomness, eh? Gosh, no one ever misses that! It's almost funny knowing it can be missed. I got depressed as well! Actually, I think it was more like mentally dead. I actually feel more bad for my friends than I do myself really, cause I'm pretty sure dealing with my half functioning brain every day at school was a pretty hard thing to deal with(actually dealing with my hyperactive self every day in general is probably a hard task anyway) But now I'm good, I'm out of school for the summer and I'm actually currently on vacation(but vacation doesn't mean I get to take a break from writing. Writing is like a 24 hour job for people like me) Anyhow, overall I am doing quick dandy, on vacation, trying to get some relaxation. I should probably conclude this thought, so thank you oh so very much for your review and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Sorry about the chapter title, Fanfiction wouldn't fit the whole thing. Anyhow, here's your chapter!

Chapter 10: The Truth is that The Truth Hurts

"…So why do you think that guy with the weird hair decided to kidnap us?" Steven asked out of the blue after a couple moments of silence as they had continued on their path down the hall. Shu shrugged.

"I'm still not sure myself… I think they need us for something, otherwise they would've killed us already by now."

"That's true I guess… although not a pleasant thought, but true." There was more silence. Steven spotted a doorway up ahead. "Looks like we might be getting out of here sooner than we thought."

"Or maybe we're thinking too soon." Steven placed his hand along the edges of the doorway that had been carved out. He looked down, he had a bad feeling about this all of the sudden. Maybe this wasn't a good idea. Than again, what more of a choice did they have?

"Come on… let's go." Steven and Shu walked through the room at a slow pace, looking around at everything it contained. The room looked like something you would find in some sort of fantasy book; the furniture was very old fashioned and carved out of the best wood in the world. There were all sorts of items that you find in a regular household, the only difference was most of the ones Steven and Shu saw were made out of gold rather than the average items that they were usually built out of.

"This kind of reminds me of the Pharaoh's quarters back in Egypt," Shu stated, trying his best to hold back the urge to touch everything shiny and gold in sight. Steven walked over to one of the wooden desks in the corner of the room. It had gold carvings within its tiny designs of various snakes and serpents. Steven reached out and opened one of the drawers in the desk and found a large and beat up book within it.

"Hey, look over here," Steven held out the old book for Shu to gaze upon, "It looks like some sort of… scarp book. But from the olden times or something." Shu frowned as he looked at the book more closely.

"I don't know, Steven. Maybe we should leave now." But Steven was already proceeding to open up the cover of the book. Shu rolled his eyes and walked over beside him to get a better look from afar. Steven stared at the pictures within the book, it contained ancient documents regarding the city of Atlantis and it's king. Steven cocked his head to the side, there were lots of pictures of Dartz, but he was dressed differently and was wearing a crown on his head.

"Dartz? A king?" Steven flipped through a couple more pages, confused as to what this all meant. Shu's eyes widened.

"Hold on… let me see that last page again." Steven turned the page back once and revealed another picture of Dartz dressed strangely, but this picture was a bit closer up than some of the others. "That guy… what did you call him? Dartz? I think… I think I've seen him before." Steven twisted his head.

"What?"

"I think I've seen Dartz before… in the palace, only once or twice though. He only left his quarters during nightfall when no one was awake. I asked my father who he was and he told me that the Pharaoh had been giving him refuge to compensate for the death of his people."

"You mean…" Steven turned back towards the book and turned the page once more. The pages contained pictures of an old civilization lying in ruins, and beside it was a picture of a light green symbol of some sort. "This guy… was in Egypt?"

"He must have been… I remember him now!"

"But… I still don't get it. How does this involve me? It doesn't really tell us why he's even here or what he even wants with us." Shu placed his hand on the book and looked over at Steven.

"We should go before someone sees us." Steven shut the book.

"Agreed." Steven went to place the book back onto the desk. A photo slipped through the pages and fell onto the ground. Steven bent over and picked it up. It was yet another picture of ancient Dartz, but this time there were other people that stood behind him. A little girl in front of him while he had his arm around another beautiful tall woman standing right beside him. In the distant corner of the room was an old man staring off to the side. They were all smiling happily.

"Who are those people?"

"I don't know…" Steven said, "But if I didn't know any better, I'd think those people were his… family."

"But… bad guys aren't supposed to have complex back stories!"

"Well, this guy is the king of Atlantis isn't he? That should pretty much be a guarantee that he'll have a back-story." Shu moaned with annoyance.

"Lookie here, if it isn't the look-a-like runaways." A tall man dressed properly in a red suit stood before them in the only doorway of the room. He had long silver hair that came down to his shoulders. One of his long bangs covered his right eye, only making him appear more mysterious. Steven and Shu were motionless as the man stepped forward. Shu quickly slipped the picture into his back pocket.

"Oh come now, little Kaiba, I'm sure you're father has told you all about me." Steven's heart froze.

"How do you know my last name?"

"Why wouldn't I know your name? After all, you are the son of my part time friend but full time foe, Seto Kaiba," said the man, "My name is Pegasus."

"Pegasus? As in… Maximillion Pegasus? President of Industrial Illusions?"

"The creator of duel monsters himself," Pegasus switched into a flashy pose, flipping out a rose from his back pocket, "It's good to hear that your father has given you some sort of history lesson or two about your roots."

"What do you have to do with my father?" Steven yelled, becoming worked up with the emotion of anger. Pegasus lifted one eyebrow.

"Oh? He hasn't told you of our various clashes in the past? Of the times I thrashed him at the vary game he once held the title of 'champion'?"

"Get to the point Pegasus!" Steven held out his fist in the air. Shu looked over at Steven and put his hand on Steven's shoulder.

"Hey, is everything-" Steven slapped away Shu's hand. He held out his index finger in Pegasus's direction.

"TELL ME." Pegasus crossed his arms and observed Steven's position. The look on his face almost looked exactly like Seto had when he had come to rescue Mokuba from Pegasus's imprisonment and Mokuba's soul had been taken. Oh yes, that look of anger and revenge was certainly a trait that would never leave the Kaiba family. It was almost amusing in a way, Pegasus started to chuckle.

Steven, on the other hand, was started to fume with rage. How dare this oddly dressed man dare to hold back the information Steven sought. When Pegasus had finished laughing, he spoke once more, "You know, it's almost adorable how much of Kaiba-boy you have become. It almost makes me feel bad for having to take you back to Dartz." Shu gasped.

"No! Don't take us back to him!" Pegasus pretended to be surprised.

"Oh, but I must! A deal's a deal, after all." Pegasus began walking towards the two boys. Shu turned towards Steven once again, searching for guidance.

"Steven, what are we going to do?" Steven took in a deep breath and put his anger aside.

"The only thing we can do," he said quietly, "RUN!" Steven and Shu lunged forward together and quickly darted around Pegasus and right for the doorway. Pegasus swung his arms around and grasped both Shu and Steven by the backs of their shirts, causing them to both fall on their backs onto the ground. Pegasus smirked as he looked down at them.

"You didn't actually think you'd be able to get away that easily, did you? I have had experience in the past with keeping kidnapped children imprisoned." Steven growled. Although he was unsure as to what Pegasus was referring to, somehow he could feel that it related to his father in some way. But it was anger and confusion that would have to wait in Steven's case.

Steven and Shu looked into one another's eyes, almost accepting their inability to break free of Pegasus's hold on them. But instead they nodded all together and, all at once, kicked both their legs at each of Pegasus's feet and forcing him onto the ground just as they had fallen. They were instantly back on their feet and heading towards freedom.

Just as they were about to reach the doorway, another man in a black suit was blocking their way. He wore large black sunglasses and his hair shot out like some sort of large needle. Steven and Shu skidded to a stop as they looked up into his face.

"Oh Kimo, there you are," Pegasus was already back on his feet and brushing off the dust from his pants, "I was almost afraid I'd have to do this alone." Kimo took up his hands and reached for Steven. Steven jumped back, but Kimo grabbed Shu instead and twisted his arms back. Before Steven could make another attempt to escape, Pegasus came up from behind him and did the same.

"I don't think you'll be going anywhere anytime soon." Steven gritted his teeth.

"You won't get away with this!" Steven barked.

"Yeah! Just wait until my father gets here!" Kimo and Pegasus ignored him and started walking back down the long hallway. Shu and Steven didn't try to break free; they felt that it would be a useless attempt and a waste of energy. They simply fell limp in their captors' grip and let them lead them to their leader.

Dartz stood to his feet when Pegasus and Kimo entered the room with both the boys. "What are you doing with them?" Dartz asked, eyeing Pegasus and Kimo.

"It appears as though your guards weren't doing a very good job watching your prisoners." Valon and Rafael entered the room, out of breath and tired.

"Master…! The prisoners are…" Valon spotted Shu and Steven, already captured. "Oh…" Dartz glared at both of them as they knelt down before him. "We are so sorry, Master. We…"

"I'd rather not hear your pathetic excuses, right now!" Dartz put his hands behind his back and walked over to where Pegasus and Kimo were standing with Shu and Steven at hand, "Besides… it's almost time to fulfill the prophecy. And once I do… well, let's just say these two brats won't be much of a problem anymore."

"Wait!" Shu called. All attention fell on Shu now, his eyes were pleading for mercy. "Please… don't do this. We're just kids! What have we done to deserve this?" Dartz's eyes narrowed.

"It is not what you have done, you are merely a symbol of what your father's have done. You suffer because of them." Shu didn't know what he was talking about, but the statement seemed to affect Steven more than Shu.

"What are you talking about? Tell us why we're here!" Dartz was now eyeing Steven.

"Oh? And are you sure you are ready for the truth? After all… it could prove to be quite… painful." Steven growled.

"I'm tired of the lies! I'm tired of the excuses! I'm tired of people hiding things from me just because they think I'll get hurt! I just want the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."

"So help you God?"

"Just tell me why we're here!" Dartz sighed, seeing no point in keeping it a secret from them any longer. It didn't really matter in the end, for they were both going to die anyway. Dartz looked away.

"When the Leviathan had been defeated, I was almost certain there was no way of revival. I wandered the earth hopelessly, wishing I had just one more chance to recreate the great city of Atlantis that I had once ruled…" Dartz paused, "And then I came across a prophecy… one that told of a boy, a son to be precise, one who could be used to reborn the great beast that had been laid to rest."

"Prophecy also included the foretelling of a man, one whom held the status of sacred guardian, would turn his back on his vows and his country for the opportunity of power," Dartz turned slightly and looked at Shu out of the corner of his eye, "That man was Seth."

"W… What?" Dartz began pacing back and forth.

"Although Seth was a loyal and passionate man, but there had always been evil that lay deep, deep within his heart. An evil that could be summoned easily if given the chance to be brought about," Dartz stopped and turned towards Shu, "That's where you come in."

"…Me? What… what are you talking about?"

"When I discovered that he was the one, I made a promise… well, more like proposed a deal…" Dartz unfolded his hands, "In exchange for you, I promised him the ability to become the pharaoh of Egypt." Shu was speechless, his lower lip quivered with the realization and pain that was beginning to overcome him. Was it true? How could he possibly know if it was true?

"…No… you're lying!" Dartz bent over and tilted Shu's head up by his chin.

"Oh… if only that were true, my child. But alas… it is not. I promised your father power, and he accepted without so much as a second to think about you. Face it, Shu. He never really cared about you."

Steven stared at Shu, guilt and worry was building up. 'Poor Shu…' Steven thought. A kid like him didn't deserve to be treated like that, especially a boy that had looked up to his father so much. Steven glared at Dartz; why would anyone make such a deal? How could he just rip apart Shu's relationship with his father? But at the same time… it didn't really explain what Steven had anything to do with this.

"Wait… I still don't understand why I'm here! If he's the boy you needed, what do I have to do with it??" Dartz now turned his attention back to Steven.

"Once I had obtained Shu as well as the rest of the souls needed, I attempted to resurrect the great Leviathan just as the prophecy had said could be risen. But… it didn't exactly work. It seemed that there was still one last thing missing. That not just one boy, two were needed in this process. One that was a simple 5000 years into the present reincarnation to be exact." Steven's eyes widened.

"Reincarnation?" Steven gazed over at Shu. Shu was staring blankly at the ground; he was in too much of shock by the news of his father's abandonment to be following what was being said. Steven gulped and looked back over at Dartz. "But I still don't understand why you would need me… the prophecy… it told of a man who was evil, deep down inside, right? Well, Otousan isn't evil! And he would've never made such a deal with you! In fact, you're the one that kidnapped me! He didn't hand me over, therefore you made a mistake."

Dartz moved over to Steven so that he stood right in front of him, his face right in front of Steven's. He gave a low chuckle. "You still don't get it do you?" Dartz said, "Even though Seto didn't 'technically' hand you over, it still would've happened anyway sometime in the near future. It might not have happened now, but just as he had lied to you, he would've given you up too." Steven shook his head violently.

"No! Shut up! My Otousan would never EVER do that to me! HE LOVES ME!"

"How can you possibly say that about him when you barely know who he is, hmm? How do you know he truly loves you, when he's lied to you so many times before in the past? How can you truly say you know a man, or a father, you know nothing about?"

"Be-Because…" Steven was beginning to hyperventilate as he tried to hold back hot tears forming at the edges of his eyes, "Because he's my father!"

"Just because he's your father, doesn't mean he has to love you. After all, you are his mistake." Those last few words lingered in the air just as slowly as they echoed through Steven's mind, hitting him like a pile of bricks. Suddenly it felt like everything had finally clicked in his head, but in a way that he had never imagined it before. Dartz was right; Steven was nothing more than a mistake, an accident. How could Seto love something he hadn't even intended to happen in the first place? It was like realizing every single thing you ever thought you knew was wrong, and finding this horrid truth to be the only right.

"Otou… Otousan…" Steven said softly, it was true. It had been true. Steven didn't know why or how, but something he could feel that it was true. Shu looked one with a grave face, now Steven was the one fighting the internal battle, trying to fend off the looming denial that his mind would subconsciously try to run away to. And what did Dartz have to say for himself? Nothing. He simply stood there, watching them both cave into themselves.

"Now that that is settled with, shall we continue with the ritual?" Dartz suggested after a few more moments of silence. Shu's head shot up. He had to keep his mind focused on the now, he had no time to ponder his father's past actions. Steven and Shu still needed to get out of there if they wanted to get out alive.

Shu then remembered what he had in his pocket and shifted his body as he tried to reach into his pocket. Kimo became more alert and strengthen his hold on Shu. "Hey! Stop that!" He yelled, trying to keep Shu from moving. But Shu managed to slip his hand far enough into his pocket to pull put the picture he had taken from the book.

"Wait!" He called, " Don't kill us yet! What about your family? You have a child too!" Shu tried to hold out the picture to Dartz, but was unable to due to his current state. Dartz took a couple steps forward and took the picture from his hand, staring at it briefly before looking back up at Shu, unsatisfied.

"And what is this picture supposed to do?" Shu's one last spark of hope disappeared from his face.

"B-But they're your family! They love you! What would they think of you now if they saw what you were doing?"

"My family is dead," Dartz said, "I killed them." Dartz proceeded to rip the picture in half and let the two pieces fall to the ground.

"How… how could you kill your own family?! How can you turn us against our own fathers when you're the one who killed his entire family!" Dartz only looked as though he were enjoying what pain and confusion both Steven and Shu were going through as a result of Dartz brutal psychological attacks.

"I killed them for the good of Atlantis… where as your fathers gave you up for the desire for power. I am fighting for a good cause, and what are your disgraceful fathers fighting for? They're status, and titles, and power. All they care about is themselves, I care about saving the world and turning it good again."

"You're crazy!" Dartz turned away from the two boys and over at Alister, Valon, and Rafael whom were standing in a row on the opposite side of the room, awaiting orders.

"The time has come." Alister, Valon, and Rafael loosened their posture.

"You mean… you're ready to summon… the Leviathan?" Dartz nodded.

"I think we have waited long enough, and surely we have enough souls to offer. Besides, we wouldn't want to give the boys another opportunity for escape." All three of them nodded in unison.

"Pegasus, Kimo… why don't you hand over the children to my three associates? I think we've got it from here." Pegasus eyed Dartz suspiciously.

"Not so fast, Dartz. What about our end of the bargain?" Valon looked a little surprised to hear of this.

"Bargain?" Dartz had never told any of them that a bargain had been made. How many things was Dartz promising?

"Ah yes… you wanted me to revive your wife, correct?"

"And possibly another eye if you could. It's kind of creepy just having an empty socket."

"Right… right… well, all your desires will be endowed to you once the Leviathan is summoned once more I can grant no wishes until that moment," Dartz held out his hand, "So if you wish for that in which you desire, I advise you hand the children over to me." Kimo looked over at Pegasus for approving. Pegasus nodded. When the children had been exchanged everyone had left the room. Dartz stood in front of the serpent statue with a grin on his face.

"Soon the great Leviathan will be summoned… and soon the world will be mine." Dartz was unaware of the other presence of the room; a man that was lurking in the shadows, with a grin on his face and a plan of his own.

**

* * *

A/N:** _Hey guys! It's me again! I bet you weren't expecting an update this soon to come out! Well, here you go. I hope this chapter sort of explained some things in the story(although this plot is so twisting and complex, I'm not sure if I even explained everythingx.x And I am not saying that in a complimentary way, let me assure you. Having an uber complicated plot is hard to keep up with!) Hopefully the next chapter will be up just as quickly as this one had come up, although I do find it hard to write when I'm stuck with 7 boys, all whom want to bother me or hang out with me(god knows why) Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and are looking forward to the next one!_


	12. Chapter 11: Terminated

Journey maker: Thanks for the review! I'm not sure where my other reviewers went, but hopefully they love this story as much as you do!(which I'm very flattered to hear, I'm glad you're enjoying what I have so far) But you haven't seen anything yet, I think you'll find this chapter incredibly amusing. Enjoy!

Chapter 11: Terminated

**-Tea-**

Tea was standing alone. Blackness was surrounding her. Tea didn't know where she was, much less remembered how she had gotten there. Suddenly a single stage light overhead flashed on, and was pointed directly onto her. Tea lifted her hand and put it over her eyes to keep the light from blinding her. She looked down and noticed she was in some sort of dressy outfit. The sound of people became evident.

"W… What is going on…?" Tea said quietly to herself as people began clapping and cheering. She observed her outfit; it was a elegant dress that came out at the end and was decorated with a wonderful design using blue and red. She also appeared to be in ballerina shoes. Not to mention the fact that she was no longer in a tiny, twelve-year-old body anymore, but her normal twenty-five-year-old body.

"And now the Jacobs' Brothers present our next act!" The crowd exploded once more with cheering and clapping. Tea's eyes sparkled with excitement, she finally getting the chance to dance on stage in front of an audience. She was finally going to be able to show the world he amazing dance moves and be adored.

Tea held out her arms in different directions, striking a pose for her audience just before the music would start up and she would begin to dance. The intercom voice came back on, "Please welcome the beautiful Ms. Tea Gardner," Tea smiled with pride as there was more cheers, "And the talented magician, Nezbit!" Tea's smile and innermost joy completely vanished. There was an explosion behind her, and a cloud of smoke formed. Tea turned around to see Nezbit step out of the cloud with a magician wand in hand as well as a top hat. Tea wasn't sure whether to laugh or be afraid.

Nezbit held out his hands and bowed a couple times before turning to Tea, "Why look who it is, my young assistant, Tea. Are you ready for the first act?" Tea glared at him.

"You are no magician, Nezbit. You're nothing but a fool desperate for revenge." Nezbit brought his wand into the air and held it in a way that it pointed directly at Tea's face.

"Oh, we'll see about that." Nezbit faced the crowd.

"I now present my first act; the Sinking Sailor!" Nezbit turned towards Tea, "In this act, my lovely assistant Ms. Gardner will attempt to free herself from a locked tank of water!" Tea's eyebrow was raised.

"What tank?" Nezbit grinned.

"This one," Nezbit flicked his wand in the air and the ground underneath Tea collapsed, causing her to fall downward into a tank of water. Nezbit walked over to the edge and sealed the tank shut. More stage lights were flicked on and were focused on the narrow tank of water that Tea was now trapped in. The crowds threw their fists in the air, cheering the show on.

Tea placed her hands on the glass, looking around the room desperately for help. But it was no use, the audience simply thought this was just another magic act and had no intention of helping her. Tea shook her head, looking all around for some sort exit to slip through. She bent her head so that she was looking upwards; Nezbit was standing above her.

"Oh come now, Tea. We rehearsed this a million times, don't try to play the damsel in distress on me." Nezbit chuckled. Tea opened her mouth to bark a insulting remark towards him, but instead bubbles floated out of her mouth. This was when Tea realized the seriousness of her situation, when she felt her lungs already beginning to shrink.

'Oh no… if I don't find a way out of here soon, I'm going to die!' Tea thought to herself. She started banging on the glass, hoping to create a crack and break it down. But the glass was stronger than it appeared, and banging was less efficient underwater. Tea's eyes widened, she was really going to need oxygen soon.

Tea had to try and no focus on it, to only think about escape. She shut her eyes, swinging her limbs in all directions and smacking them against the glass. Tea started opening her mouth, trying to scream, bubbles were floating all around her head. She swam upwards, head-butting the glass above her. Nezbit shook his head and waved his index finger at her.

"You didn't think it was going to be that easy did you?" Tea glared at him, wishing she were able to talk so she could tell him everything that was on her mind. But now her lungs were really starting to feel the burn. Tea brought her hands up to her neck and held it for a moment, trying to calm her body down.

'Yugi…' She thought to herself, going up against one side of the glass and looking hopelessly out towards the crowd. Her last gasp of air was draining away and her body was beginning to succumb to unconsciousness, 'Where are you?'

**-Yugi-**

Yugi was walking briskly through a long and narrow hallway. He was also back in his present age body, but also appeared to be wearing a strange and flowing outfit. It was long, brown, outfit that resembled a bathrobe but with pants. Although he was oddly dressed, determination was plastered across his face.

Yugi wasn't quite sure where he was going or what he was doing, but a spirit had told him that his ultimate foe and final destiny was at the end of this hallway and he would be met with his greatest rival yet. Even in a virtual world where he was at the mercy of a small boy with oddly colored hair, the idea of destiny usually swayed his mind more than reason. So there he walked, down the long hallway to face his destiny.

Yugi stopped when he reached the end; Lector was standing across from him wearing a outfit much like his, except his was black and he also had a cape. They were both silent for a moment, staring one another down.

"Your overconfidence if your weakness," Yugi said in a stern voice.

"Your faith in your friends is yours." Yugi and Lector brought their hands down to their sides and both drew metal handles that had been strapped to their waists and with a click of a button, a brightly colored beam of light appeared. They both held their swords out in the other's direction. Lector's eyes narrowed.

"There is no escape," Lector said in a low voice, "Don't make me destroy you." Yugi flung himself at Lector, drawing his light sword into the air and swinging it at his head. Lector swished his light sword into the air and deflected the attack. Lector tried to take a slice at Yugi, but Yugi gracefully dodged it.

The battle between one another raged on for quite some time, finding that one was equally matched to the other. They made no progress, except a small injury here and there, but they kept fighting all the same. Yugi wouldn't let him win, not after what he had done; which Yugi wasn't fully aware of yet, but he somehow knew it was bad.

The battle continued, a swing and slash, only to be blocked or deflected by another swing and a slash. They're battle continued evenly until it led them until a narrow bridge above an air vent that lay far down below. Lector and Yugi were too focused on the fight to even notice the battle arena they were fighting on.

Lector jumped forward and swung his light sword into the air, only to have Yugi repeat the same. The swords collided and remained motionless. Yugi and Lector stared one another in the eyes. The only thing keeping them apart was their sword, which were putting equal pressure onto the other.

"Yugi, you do not yet realize your importance. You have only begun to discover your power. Join me, and I will complete your training. With out combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy."

"I'll never join you!" Yugi yelled, breaking away from their collision at last and taking another swing at Lector. Lector brought his sword back in and instead grabbed Yugi's arm with his other hand. Yugi was taken completely be surprise. Lector brought him up close to his face.

"If only you knew the power of the Dark Side. Solomon never told you what happened to your father." Yugi glared at him.

"He told me enough! He told me you killed him!"

"No. I am your father." Yugi's eyes widened. He shook his head.

"No. No. That's not true. That's impossible!" Yugi cried, shaking his head faster and faster. Lector's grip on Yugi's wrist tightened.

"Search your feelings, you know it to be true!" Lector declared. Yugi's head stopped shaking and he became still.

"Wait a second… you're not my father, you're just some deranged business suit." Lector twisted Yugi's arm back and kicked him off the side of the edge. Yugi cried out in fear, watching as Lector walked over to the edge and shook his head. Everything went black.

**-Mokuba-**

Mokuba was standing apart from Noah; his body was tense and his hands already balled into fists. Thankfully his body had also appeared to return to its normal age. But Mokuba couldn't think about that right now.

Mokuba didn't know what Noah was planning, but he did know that he wouldn't let Noah do it. "Come now Mokuba, why don't you give your brother a hug?" Noah opened his arms offering him a hug. Mokuba rolled his eyes.

"I'm not your brother Noah," Mokuba spat. Noah frowned and brought his arms back down to his sides. "Look, I know we had a thing the last time I saw you, but if you're helping the psycho that kidnapped my nephew, than I can't be buddy-buddy with you anymore." Noah cocked his head to the side.

"Is that so?" Noah put his arms behind his back, "So you're doing all of this to basically make up for what your brother has failed to do?" Mokuba gritted his teeth.

"I'd do anything to help my brother, and even so, Steven is my family and I would never leave him in any kind of danger."

"Interesting theory…"

"What are you talking about? What's so interesting about that?"

"Just the fact that you still seem to have this illusion of your brother's concern for you…" Mokuba shook his head.

"Oh no… don't start this again, Noah. I know my brother cares about me, you're not going to trick me again."

"Trick you?" Noah laughed loudly, "This is no trick, Mokuba. This is the truth and you can chose to treat it as such or pretend it's all just a 'trick,' as you had called it."

"You sicken me, Noah. How dare you try to tear my brother and I apart again!"

"I'm not trying to tear you two apart, I'm simply trying to make you realize what a real monster your brother is." Noah started walking slowly in a circle around Mokuba.

"My brother isn't a monster."

"Your brother doesn't love you, Mokuba, why can't you realize that?"

"We've been through everything together, he loves me just as much as I love him. We're brothers, that's what brothers do."

"I can remember countless occasions where he said he didn't need anybody, that he dueled alone. Your brother's the kind of man that would walk over anybody to get what he wanted, disregarding every single person that's ever cared for him. Take Yugi for example, how many times has that boy saved his butt from certain doom? And how many times has Seto even said thank you?"

"Yugi is a different story, Seto just can't get his mind past what happened between them a long time ago."

"And how does that justify his actions?" Mokuba shook his head once more before staring to walk away. "Where are you going, Mokuba?"

"Away from you, I don't need to listen to this. I don't believe you." Noah snapped his fingers and he instantly flashed in front of Mokuba, blocking his way. Mokuba stopped. "Noah, leave me alone. Just accept the fact that I'm not going to turn my back on my brother. Ever." Mokuba tried to walk past him, but Noah continued to stand his way.

"He let you get shot." Mokuba froze.

"What?"

"When Dartz shot that gun. He let you get shot. Seto watched you take that bullet."

"I pushed him out of the way!" Noah rolled his eyes.

"He knew you would attempt to save him. Why would he be stupid enough to run directly towards someone with an armed gun?" Mokuba threw a punch at Noah's face. Noah gracefully caught his arm and restrained it in the air.

"You're pathetic," Mokuba spat.

"Am I? Or maybe it is you that is the pathetic one." Mokuba pulled away from Noah and swung his leg this time. Noah jumped back and dodged it. "Why are you getting so angry, Mokuba? I thought you said it wasn't true? Or are you finally starting to realize that you're wrong?"

"I'm not wrong Noah!" Mokuba jumped back, panting, "I know Seto needs me, he'd be lost without me! He loves me!" Noah smirked.

"Needs you? You really think that? Ha! Why on earth would he need you?" Noah paused for a moment, "Especially now since he has Steven…" Mokuba raised one eyebrow.

"What are you talking about?"

"Isn't it obvious? Look at yourself. You're all grown-up; you don't need you're big, strong protector to save you anymore. You simply don't fit the part anymore… I mean, now that he has little seven-year-old Steven to take care of." Mokuba took a couple steps back.

"No… you're wrong. It's not like that at all…"

"Face it, you were nothing more to him than a sidekick that looked up to him like he was some sort of God."

**-Seto-**

"Hello?" Seto was walking by himself down a mysterious tunnel. His senses were very alert and listening for any sound made. The tails of his trench coat fluttered behind him as he walked briskly down the tunnel. Seto wasn't sure where he was, but he saw a light up ahead and felt that was a good sign.

Seto reached the end of the tunnel and walked into the bright light. He looked around; he was in Domino Park at home. There were children and families already occupying the park, playing various games and swinging on the swing sets. Seto had never seen the place so crowded before, possibly because the only time he ever came to this place was at night when it was vacant and empty. Seto liked to come there at times just to get some piece and quiet.

Seto looked around the room, searching for someone suspicious looking. But there was no one. The park looked only populated by cheerful, harmless and happy families. Was this another challenge that he was supposed to overcome? What was he supposed to do? Seto shrugged, there was no use simply standing around and waiting for someone to tell him what he was supposed to do.

Seto walked over to a woman that was sitting next to her child in the sandbox. "Excuse me… could you possibly…"

"Look Mommy! I made a sand castle!" The small child said cheerfully, looking up at his mother with a smile She patted him on the back.

"Good job honey! It's a wonderful castle!" The child giggled with delight from his mother's approval. Seto held out his hand to tap her on the shoulder, but his hand went right through her. The woman's image fuzzed a little bit just as Seto took his hand back. She was just another hologram. Seto looked around at all the other families laughing and playing in the park. They were all holograms, most likely.

Seto walked all throughout the park, asking around, trying to find at least one person who could hear or see him. But there was none. Was this some kind of trick the Big 5 was pulling on him? Or maybe Noah was the one behind all the tricks in reality. Discouraged and annoyed, Seto sat down on a nearby bench near one of the swing sets and slides. An older man with a large brown hat that covered most of his face sat down beside him. Seto barely noticed, the person probably didn't see him anyway.

Seto sighed, hunching over and resting his head on his hands. It was a beautiful day, or at least it would have been if Seto hadn't known it was all virtual and unreal. "Why the long face, son?" The man asked in a low voice.

"Oh, it's nothing, I've just been walking around-" Seto froze and straightened his back. That man had just talked to him. He saw him.

"What's the matter?" A chill was sent down Seto's back; he knew that voice, "You look as though you just met a ghost." Seto jumped to his feet and held out his finger in the man's direction.

"What the hell are you doing here, Gozaburo?!" Gozaburo threw off his large hat and revealed his face. Seto growled with anger. "What kind of trick are you trying to pull on me?!" Gozaburo, despite the look Seto had in his eyes that made it look as though Seto would kill him in any moment, he still looked relaxed and remained seated on the bench. Gozaburo yawned, and rested his arms across the bench.

"Well?!" Seto yelled, growing very impatient. Gozaburo held up his hand, his face remaining quite calm and content.

"There's no need to yell, Seto. After all, there are children around." Gozaburo turned his attention away from Seto. This made Seto even angrier, if his stepfather was looking for another defeat, then so be it.

"Stop playing games with me, Gozaburo and face me!" Gozaburo's attention was still focused on the rest of the park, but also on one child in particular. There was a tiny call from one of the distant sand boxes. Seto twisted his body around to see a small child dash past him and over to Gozaburo.

"Hey there kiddo, what's all the excitement about?" Gozaburo said in a soft and kind voice; one in which Seto had never heard before in all his life. Gozaburo placed his hands on the small child's shoulders.

"I built the biggest sand castle ever! Will you come and see it?" Seto cocked his head to the side, who was this kid? Seto hadn't had the chance to get a good look at him since he was standing behind the child, but from what he could see he had brown hair. Seto pondered whether or not that was some cheap replica of him as a child, but then he noticed the hair was a different style and it was also a different shade of brown, a lighter brown, and one that had a hint of red that gleamed in the sunlight.

"Of course I will, Steven." Seto's heart stopped, the boy jumped with glee and turned back to run to the sandbox. Seto's eyes lay upon the small child and in fact, it was Steven. That was his son. Seto wanted to reach out his hand towards the child, but was too afraid too. Steven ran past him with a happy smile on his face and disappeared amongst the other children.

"You… What do you think you're doing?!" Seto yelled. Gozaburo grinned.

"He's a bright kid, really."

"Shut up! Where is my son??" Seto commanded. Gozaburo completely ignored him and walked on through the park over to where Steven was sitting in the sandbox. Seto ran up and starting walking by his side. "What the hell do you think you're doing? How do you even know about my son? You're dead, dammit! Why can't you stay dead and STAY OUT OF MY LIFE?"

"Oh Seto, what makes you think I wouldn't want to spend some quality time with my grandson?" Seto stepped in front of Gozaburo and grabbed him by the shirt collar.

"Gozaburo… I swear; if you have hurt him in any way I can't even BEGIN to explain what I'm going to do to you. TELL ME WHERE HE IS!"

"What on earth makes you think I've hurt him? Can't you see how happy he is? He's not in any kind of danger, he's completely unharmed." Gozaburo held out his hand and pointed in Steven's direction.

Steven still remained in the sandbox, patting away on the sand, finishing off the last bit of his wonderfully made sand castle. Steven looked up from his work and over in Gozaburo's direction, giving a small wave at him along with a smile. His eyes glanced at Seto for a moment, just before going back to work.

"He… he sees me! Steven? Is that… is that him?" Seto looked back at Gozaburo, desperate for answers, desperate for a sign that would tell him that his son was okay. Gozaburo remained silent, having too much fun watching the scene unfold for itself. Seto couldn't wait around for an answer; he sped off to the sandbox and stood by it. "S… Steven? Is that you?" The small child looked up and into Seto's face.

"Um… hi?"

"Steven… don't you, remember me?" Gozaburo snapped his fingers and suddenly Steven was no longer happily playing in a sandbox, but standing on a lonely sidewalk apart from Mokuba. It was raining, and Mokuba was staring right back at Steven who had his arms by his sides and tears running down his face.

"I hate you…" Steven whispered. Mokuba's eyes widened, his mouth became slightly ajar as if he were just readying himself to say something in return, but Steven got to it first. "I HATE YOU ALL!"

Seto took a step back, watching his son run down the sidewalk and disappearing around the corner. Then it changed, and now he was standing in front of Dartz, whom had Steven clutched in his arms. The gun was in his hand. A bullet shot through the air, and Dartz was gone.

"Otousan…" Seto twisted around to see Steven standing behind him, his face was pale and his body looked like it was about to collapse, "Why didn't you save me?" Seto's body started to shake, his eyes. His eyes were so full of disappointment; there was so much pain. And it had been all Seto's fault.

"Otousan!" Seto turned once more, now Steven was standing off to his side. He was glaring at him, his fists up in the air. Tears were streaming down his face, "How could you? Why would you lie to me?" Seto shook his head slowly.

"No… Steven… I…"

"I hate you…" His voice echoed all around him, "I HATE YOU ALL!" Seto brought his hands up and shook his head. It was too much to handle. It was too much for Seto Kaiba to handle. Everywhere he turned he saw images of Steven crying, yelling, running, fighting, hating, and suffering. All around he could hear his voice, it was full of so much negative emotion Seto didn't think he could bear to see or hear anymore.

"Steven… Steven! Steven!" Seto cried out, looking all around, reaching out for something, anything, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Bring me back my son, just bring him back to me!" Seto looked down at his hands, and then all around him. This was his fault. If only he had told Steven the truth, if only he had protected him, if only he had prevented all this from happening, if only he had been a better father Steven wouldn't have suffered so much.

Seto was on his knees at this point, burying his face into his hands, wondering how on earth he had managed to hurt the very human being that had brought him so much joy. Gozaburo was standing in front of him, his hands behind his back, staring down at Seto.

"Does it hurt, Seto? Does it sting?" Seto's eyes shot up at Gozaburo.

"How can you look down upon me as if you are some sort of role model of what a father is? You're not even close to what a real father is."

"Oh, is that so?"

"Your son is dead and you trapped your son in this god forsaken place!"

"And your son was kidnapped and is on his way to being killed, if he's not dead already." And that's when it hit him. That he could be too late, that Steven could already be dead by now. Seto remembered the day Steven was born, he remembered when he had walked for the first time, when he had spoke his first word. He remembered every single thing that brought him joy. And that joy was going to be gone if Steven was dead.

Gozaburo bent down and put his mouth to Seto's ear, "That's the problem with having a kid. Just another person you fail to protect." Gozaburo took up the knife in his back pocket and flipped it out. "Now it's time for me to take what was mine all along." Seto knelt motionlessly on the ground. Gozaburo lifted the knife in the air and thrust it down directing it right into Seto's neck.

Then the images of Steven ceased and there was silence. Gozaburo's arm froze as he looked all around. Something wasn't right; he wasn't controlling this. Gozaburo stood up straight and looked around. "What is this?" There was a rumbling that grew louder and louder every second. Suddenly everything started flashing black and white and a loud voice echoed.

"Virtual World computer programming automatic shut down. System shutting down, system shutting down," the robotic voice repeated over and over again. Gozaburo was looking all around.

"What's going on?! What's happening?!"

"System shutting down in five…"

"Who… who could've done this?! Gozaburo turned back towards Seto.

"Four…" Gozaburo grabbed Seto by the collar and shook him violently.

"What did you do?!" Seto stared at him blankly, not sure what to say or whether or not he wanted to know what was going on. Was his mind going to be trapped in the virtual world for the rest of eternity like his stepfather's mind had been as a result of whatever was happening? Seto was frozen within time, within his head, within his thoughts. He was completely useless.

"Three…" Gozaburo threw him to the ground; Seto couldn't have done this. But then… who had?

"Someone must've hacked the system… but how? From where?" Gozaburo had to think for a moment. How could this have happened? Could it be that someone from the outside found this place and hacked the machine? No… that wasn't not possible. It's hidden within an abandoned warehouse, who could've found it?

"Two…"

"Oh no, if I don't do something quick I'll lose my one and only ticket out of this place."

"One…" Gozaburo gave one last yell in angst and the virtual world went completely blank.

"Virtual World: Terminated."

* * *

**A/N:** _Okay, so I had this chapter finished a couple days ago. In fact, I was quite ready to post it two or three days back, but there was one thing that held me back. Yep, I don't want to throw out any names but… well, let's just say I discovered… Pokemon Diamond version. Most amazing game ever. I don't know half the pokemon that I've caught, but I love the fact that they're confuse and frighten me at the same time! I've already got most of the next chapter done, so be ready for the next update!_


	13. Chapter 12: Everyone Has An Explanation

Journey Maker: Wow, you are really digging this story. Cool! I think the other people are too, but I find your reviews very expressive and very motivating. Yeah, the alerts for everything was down for a while, it was quite annoying to be honest. I kind of had the urge to PM everyone about it, but decided against it. But anywho, thanks for the review and enjoy the chapter!

AmePiper: I completely understand. It's really okay, I now how those sort of things go. I just hope things are going better for you now, or will get better for you soon, cause I hate to hear that life is getting you down. Although we cannot deny that life can be that way sometimes. I'm really glad you liked the chapter, I really did too. I thought it was very cute and funny all the same. But the fact that you thought so too made it even more worth the while. I hope this chapter brings some light onto your day, as your reviews do mine. Thanks for the incredibly lifting review and enjoy the chapter!

Rena Redhead: Don't think you're off the hook for not writing a review for the last chapter. Hahaha, I'm kidding. You got the other two, which is still good. Oh, you mean you just found out they're sacrafices? Oh, I totally thought you knew. Hahaha, my bad. And yep, Pegasus is in this too. This story has to have the most bad guys I've ever had in one story. It's kind of amazing. Yeah, I wanted to bring up the old Seto just because it would be perfect for the situation, and because, well, he was a bit of a jerk in his younger years(and when I say younger years, I mean the age he actually is in the show) Well, I can't wait for you to read the chapter, so I suppose I'll end it here by saying thanks for the review and enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 12: Everyone Has An Explanation

Seto felt like he was floating. It was a wonderful feeling; the idea of floating wasn't one that often came to Seto, considering he was the kind of person to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. And then there were voices, they sounded oh so sweet and friendly.

"Seto…" one voice echoed from the distance. Should Seto go towards it? The voice sounded kind enough. But he rather liked floating; it was a nice feeling.

"Oh God… is he dead…?" Another voice echoed. Seto frowned; he didn't like that voice. It was high pitched, annoying, and friendship-y. God, he hated Tea. Where was she?

"Maybe we should… call a doctor…" A new voice, this voice also sounded annoying, a voice that belonged to some kind of shrimp. One who had stolen his title out of the blue for no logical reason. Seto hated Yugi too. He didn't know where Yugi was either. Than again, Seto didn't even know where he even was. Was floating normal?

"Seto…" This voice was not as familiar as the others, but at the same time… beautiful. "Seto Kaiba… please… you must awaken." It sounded so sweet, possibly even angelic. Seto didn't know who it was or what it wanted, but all he knew was he wanted to be near that voice.

Seto's eyes fluttered open and… there she was standing right in front of him. She smiled, "Oh good… he's awake. I was beginning to fear that something might have happened within that… 'virtual world' of yours, and his mind had been lost." That voice, it had returned to him. And it belonged to this woman; with long angelic hair and bright, deep blue eyes. "Seto Kaiba?"

"…Y… Yes?" Seto asked awkwardly, unsure what to say. He had never been so nervous in all his life; no woman had ever captivated him like she had in only an instant.

"You're… um… staring at me." Seto shook his head.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry." Seto attempted to push himself up and out of the virtual pod his body had been lying down in, but found his arms had become incredibly weak and unable to lift his own body. What was wrong with him? Mokuba came up from beside him and pulled his body upright.

"There you go, Nii-sama. Are you okay?" Seto nodded, glancing back at the woman.

"I know you… from somewhere. Am I… mistaken?" Seto asked; embarrassed that he couldn't remember from where he had seen this enchanting woman. How could he have forgotten such a… beautiful face?

"Oh, yes… well, we met once in an alleyway, in Egypt." Seto blinked.

"You're… Kisara." Kisara nodded.

"And you are Seto Kaiba." Seto regained his strength once more and pushed himself out of the virtual reality pod.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in Egypt?" Seto looked around and spotted another fellow at the controls, "Devlin is here too?" Duke looked up from the controls and gave him a wave before walking back over to where everyone was standing.

"Don't forget me!" An elderly voice called out from behind him. Seto twisted around to find none other than Solomon Motou, otherwise known as Yugi's Grandpa. Seto pointed towards him.

"You mean you're not dead yet?" Grandpa slapped his finger down.

"How dare you talk to me like that! Didn't anyone teach you manners, rich boy?" Seto tried to cough down a chuckle.

"I'm sorry, it's hard to take you seriously when you're half my size." Grandpa stomped his feet before crossing his arms and looking away. He muttered something under his breath, but Seto didn't hear it. Seto observed that Yugi, Tea, and Mokuba were also surrounding him. "So… anyone care to explain what's going on here?" Kisara and Duke looked at one another.

"Where shall we begin?" Kisara asked.

"And who should go first?" Duke added.

"And when do I get to tell my story??" Grandpa said, popping out of nowhere once more in the middle of the circle that had formed around Seto. Seto rolled his eyes; this was going to be annoying.

Kisara stepped forward, and Seto's attention instantly went to her. "I suppose I will be the one to go first, if that's alright." She twirled strands of her hair with her index finger, looking mainly at the ground as she spoke. "My son… he was… he was taken by Dartz, kind of."

"Kind of?" Kisara winced.

"My… Seth… he… Seth made a deal with Dartz; he traded my son for power and now Egypt is being destroyed by civil war." Seto wanted to add in one of his witty comments about why he should even care about what was happening to Egypt, but when she spoke of Egypt, she made him care about it, in a way.

"So now I'm on a mission to find my son and bring him back. I feel as though if Seth saw his son… at least just once, it would make the evil that has taken over his heart go away and remind him of who he was. But I know I can't find my son on my own… that's why I need your help, Seto Kaiba. I know Dartz has stolen from you what he has taken from me, and I feel as though these happenings are related in some way. I think it might have to do with the fact that Seth is the ancient Egyptian reincarnation of you and my son is the ancient Egyptian reincarnation of Steven."

Seto was silent for a moment, taking all the information in and thinking it over. A lot of it didn't make sense to him, but at the same time it did. But… how did his son get mixed up in all this ancient Egyptian stuff? The last thing Seto would've wanted to explain to him was the strange ancient Egyptian flashbacks that had always seemed to follow him all his life.

"So… Dartz has both our sons?" Seto said, knowing that was the only thing he knew for sure since everything else was confusing him. Kisara nodded.

"If you're from ancient Egypt… how did you get here?" Yugi asked, popping into the conversation.

"A wise man by the name of Shadi helped me get to your time. You know of him, do you not?" Yugi and Tea looked at each other.

"Yeah… we know him. Haven't seen him for a while, but we know him," Tea said with a sigh. Seto glanced at Duke, who was still fiddling with some tools in his hand. "And what about you, pretty boy? I'm assuming you're the reason the virtual world back fired on those lunatics?" Duke looked up and hid the tools behind his back.

"Hehe, yeah… that was me."

"So what's your story? And when did it involve Kisara?"

"Oh, well… it started a couple weeks ago when Pegasus was taking more and more frequent vacations and was out of the office a lot. Being his right hand man, I suppose I sort of came across things I wasn't suppose to see…" Seto held up his hand.

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold on a second, are you telling me Pegasus is in on this too?" Duke nodded his head. Seto grabbed Duke by the collar and lifted him off the ground, "And are you also saying that my son could be in the hands of the cartoon-loving mad man?!" Duke gulped and slowly nodded once more. Seto gritted his teeth before throwing Duke to the ground, "…These people… they don't know when to quit do they. So why are you here, Duke? Have you come to help your precious boss succeed at making my life miserable?"

"No, not at all. In fact, I'm here to help you. You see, I became to get a little suspicious of Pegasus and his behavior so I did some snooping. I found out that he's working for Dartz as a henchman and an advisor, since he knows so much about ancient Egypt."

"But why… doesn't he have a reason for helping Dartz?"

"I'm not completely sure as to why he's doing it, but I have a feeling that he's helping him in exchange for the resurrection of his dead wife." Seto clenched his fist.

"That no good bastard… doesn't he know what's dead is dead, that it can't be brought back to life?" Seto shook his head in frustration and stepped out of the circle. "I can't believe this… I can't believe any of this! You'd think these people had something better to do than to pick on small children!"

"Why have they kidnapped Steven and Shu anyway?" Tea asked, "I mean… what use are they to them?"

"Apparently there's some sort of prophecy… Dartz wants to summon the great Leviathan once again and purify the world of all its evil by killing off who he considers 'bad people'." Tea slapped her forehead.

"This guy is starting to sound more and more like Hitler."

"And what of our sons?" Kisara asked, looking down at the ground, "What does he plan to do to them?"

"I'm not sure… I know that they have to be used in order to complete prophecy and activate the process needed to summon the Leviathan but I'm not sure how… all I know is they need both their bodies and souls to do it. Which most likely translates to; they're going to kill Steven and Shu."

"Oh my…" Kisara covered her mouth with her hands, tears formed at the edges of her eyes. Her baby boy, her sweet son was going to be killed at the hands of Dartz. What if it was already too late? What if Dartz had already murder them both? Kisara shut her eyes; she couldn't even imagine it. Why would anyone d such a thing to an innocent child?

There was a dreadful silence. The idea of two little boys being killed didn't rest well in anyone's stomach. Yugi stared down at his feet, there had to be some way of saving them. Yugi wished Atem were still with them, he'd have some sort of idea of defeating Dartz.

"Well, there's no use just standing here and thinking about it. We better get moving before Dartz does something even worse-"

"Hold on now, don't I get to say my story??" All the attention fell on Grandpa.

"Oh yeah, that does remind me; what exactly ARE you doing here Grandpa?" Grandpa held up his head with pride as he waved his index finger in the air.

"Well, it all began when I ran into one of my old girlfriends back in the central part of Tokyo, you know, the very touristy part."

"Girlfriend?" Yugi's eye twitched.

"Yep," Grandpa said happily, "She was just getting off a tour bus when I had run into her. Well, we had started talking when she told me this bizarre story about you, Kaiba." Seto raised one eyebrow.

"Me?"

"Yep, seems as though you and her had spent some time together for part of the tour ride to Tokyo. Does the name Arisu ring any kind of bell?" Mokuba nearly fell over at the sound of her name.

"Not that woman! You dated Arisu!? The CHILD MOLESTOR??" Everyone was staring at Mokuba like he was crazy. "Hehehe… I mean, yeah, her name does kinda ring a bell…" Mokuba tried to say in a casual voice, trying to look normal.

"Yeah… so anyway," Grandpa turned back towards the rest of the group, "So she ended up telling me all about Kaiba and his little adventure, and then also about Isono's murder and how Daiana had helped you guys escaped from the police when they had tracked down the tour bus!"

"When I had found out about it, I tried calling Yugi since I knew you three were heading to Tokyo anyway and that he would be able to keep you guys from going to jail, but when I did finally reach the station, they said you four had gone missing looking for that kid of yours! So I went on a little search of my own, but came up with nothing. Luckily I managed to run into Duke along the way, who happened to be on a similar mission and that's how I ended up here." Grandpa crossed his arms and nodded, knowing his mission had been fulfilled.

"…Okay, so now that everything else was explained, why don't we get going and try finding Steven and Shu? Yeah know… before they get killed?" Mokuba stated.

"But we don't even know where to start…" Tea said sadly.

"And that's where I come in!" Duke said, jumping back into the conversation, "You see, as I was doing my various snooping, I came across the location of where Dartz and his little league of goons are keeping Steven and Shu. We'll find them in no time!"

"What are we waiting for? Let's go save Steven and Shu!" Tea and Yugi nodded and headed out of the room, with Duke and Grandpa following them. Mokuba, Seto, and Kisara remained. Seto was leaning against the wall using his arm, his head hidden within his sleeve. Kisara walked over to his side and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"It'll be okay Seto… we'll find our boys. I would never let anyone hurt my child, and something tells me you wouldn't either. Let us use that to fuel the energy we'll need to face off against Dartz and save Steven and Shu." Kisara gave Seto a small squeeze of comfort before leaving the room just as the others had. Seto straightened himself up and sighed.

"She's right…" Seto looked over at Mokuba, "We better go." He turned his back and started heading towards the exit himself. Mokuba stood completely still, Noah's words were still echoing through his mind as he watched his brother walk on ahead of him. There were so many things he wanted to say; so many things he felt he needed to ask Seto, just to make sure Noah had been lying about how Seto really felt. That it wasn't true what he had said about Mokuba being nothing more than a mere side kick, that Steven had taken his place.

Seto felt a tug on his trench coat from behind him and stopped. Seto turned his head and looked down at Mokuba, confused. "Mokuba? What is it?" He asked. Mokuba looked away from his face, unsure what to say or how to say the things he wanted to say.

"Um…" he said quietly, "I just… needed to know… that…" Mokuba looked up into his brother's face. Seto's younger self appeared before his eyes, smiling down on him happily.

"I'll always be there for you…" his tiny, seven-year-old voice echoed. The vision went away and he was staring back at his twenty-five year old brother once more. His brother was still confused and waiting for Mokuba to answer his question. Mokuba wrapped his arms around Seto's waist and hugged him. Seto, surprised and slightly confused, put his arms around Mokuba anyway.

"Nii-sama, I just needed you to know that I love you and always will… I know people always try to tear us apart, but I want you to know that will never happen. No matter what people say, I'll always love you." Seto smiled, and let his face sink into Mokuba's hair. The brothers stood in each other's arms for a moment.

"Mokuba… I don't understand where this is coming from. Did something happen? Should I be worried?" Mokuba shook his head.

"No Nii-sama… the only thing we have to worry about is how we're going to save Steven." Mokuba and Seto broke away from their hug and shook hands. Tea appeared in the doorway.

"Hey, are you guys coming or what?"

"Coming!" Mokuba called, running towards her with Seto following from behind. Together nothing could stop them from saving Steven.

* * *

Pegasus, Kimo, Alister, Rafael, and Valon were all standing around in the summoning room. All around them were tiles, each with a picture of a different person in each tile. The people in the pictures could date back from years and years before the current time, Dartz had been collecting souls and jumping time periods for long time. No one was sure how long, but it was long.

The silence was becoming awkward; Valon didn't enjoy awkward moments. He glanced over at Pegasus. Pegasus looked like a strange guy; as if the red outfit wasn't enough, he had that odd haircut as well. Not to mention the missing eye. Although Valon couldn't complain much, considering the outfits they wore.

"So…" Valon started, "Is your girlfriend hot?" Pegasus looked disgusted by his question.

"Excuse me?"

"Your girlfriend… the one you're trying to save. Is she hot or what?" Pegasus rolled his eye.

"For you information, she's my wife. And yes… I suppose she is quite… 'hot'" Valon raised one eyebrow, looking him from head to toe. Pegasus noticed him and stared back. "What? What are you looking at?" Valon's eyes went back up to Pegasus's face.

"You sure you have a wife? Cause you kinda seem like you flow-"

"Kimo." Kimo stepped forward and slammed his fist into his other hand. Valon looked up into Kimo's threatening face.

"Okay… okay… never mind. My mistake…" Valon said, putting up his hands in surrender, "Just a thought, sorry I even said anything." Pegasus crossed his arms and held up his nose. Just then Dartz walked in and Pegasus immediately walked over to his side.

"Dartz! There you are…" Dartz looked at him.

"Yes?"

"Are those three really your goons? Don't you want henchmen that are… you know, a little older? Possibly a little less idiotic?"

"Hey!" Valon said defensively. Pegasus ignored him.

"I assure you Pegasus, my henchmen do what is asked of them when it comes down to it. It is none of your concern anyway." Pegasus shrugged.

"I suppose that is true… but I also did have one last question for you." Dartz stopped walking and sighed. He turned to face Pegasus.

"What? What is it?" Dartz asked, annoyed.

"Well, I was wondering what ever came out of Kaiba-boy's father… oh yes, and that snobby little kid of his too; the one with the green hair. Have they… you know, finished them?"

"Finished who?"

"Yugi and his little friends! Kaiba and that brother of his! Well? Are they dead? Didn't you assign Gozaburo and that brat of his to kill them??"

"Oh yes, I did."

"So… they are dead?"

"Probably not." Dartz continued is walk. Pegasus sped off after him.

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Dartz growled with annoyance.

"Don't you get it? A morn like Gozaburo Kaiba isn't enough to kill Seto Kaiba or any of his friends."

"Then why did you assign him to do it then?"

"Because I needed something stall the Kaibas from finding this place. I knew Gozaburo and Noah wouldn't be enough to stop them, but I did know they would be stupid enough to take up the challenge. You know, given the past experiences they've had with the brothers…"

"Does…" Pegasus looked around the room, "That mean they're on their way?" Dartz nodded.

"I haven't heard back from Gozaburo or his son in a while, which leads me to believe Kaiba found a way to shut down the virtual reality system they had Kaiba and everyone else trapped in already. Knowing him, he's probably flying on one of his expensive jets right now to come and face me…"

"W-What are we going to do?! He's going to be here any minute and all you're doing is…"

"There is no need to worry, I have what I need," Dart turned towards Alister, Valon, and Rafael, "Bring out the boys. The summoning is about to begin."

* * *

"Steven…?" Shu whispered with a frown on his face, "Steven, are you okay? You haven't said a word to me in a really long time…" Steven glared at him, tightening the hold he had around his knees with his arms.

"What do you think? My father abandoned me." Shu shook his head.

"That's not true, Steven. Dartz is just trying to break you down. You can't believe what he says." Steven unraveled his crouching position and pushing out his legs.

"How can you even say that when you're dad did the same thing?!"

"I don't know… I just… I have a feeling, you know?" Alister opened the dungeon door.

"It's time." Shu looked over at Steven, hoping he had some sort of plan. Instead, Steven willing got up and held out his arms. Alister took each of his arms into his hands and twisted them behind his back.

"Steven… what are you doing?" Rafael came out from behind Alister and walked over to where Shu was sitting.

"Why don't you make this easier for all of us and follow your friend's example?" Shu moved back, trying to figure a way that he could run past both Alister and Rafael and get away. Steven glared at him.

"Just give yourself up, Shu. It's no use." Rafael grabbed Shu and restrained him before he could try to sneak away. Shu's attention was on Steven though. Why was he acting like this? Didn't he want to get away? Didn't he want to live?

"There's no point in running anymore… you can't run from the truth, or from destiny," Steven said sadly. It was all over for them. Or maybe it was just the beginning. Maybe this is what they were meant to do all along. Maybe they were wrong about everything.

Shu said nothing more to Steven as they were shoved into the ritual room. Steven had lost all hope, and that was something Shu couldn't give back to him. He had lost all faith in himself and his father. Now they were done for.

Rafael and Alister shoved the two boys over to Dartz. Pegasus was anxiously looking at Dartz, "There they are. Now hurry up and summon this Leviathan before those brats get here." Dartz chuckled.

"Oh Pegasus, there's no need to worry." Steven looked up at Dartz.

"I suppose in a perfect world, those so called 'brats' would be the only thing you would have to worry about," A voice said from afar as it stepped out of the shadows. Everyone was shocked, but mostly annoyed to see Bakura standing opposite from them. "Happy to see me?" Dartz rolled his eyes.

"And for what reason have you decided to grace us with your presence, Bakura?" Dartz said sarcastically. Bakura crossed his arms and starting walking towards them.

"I suppose you could say the usual. I told you before, Dartz, I have plans of my own to take over the world. I knew this whole 'working together' arrangement would never work for me, so I decided to take matters into my own hands," Bakura eyed both Shu and Steven, "Although I was hoping that Shu and Steven would've run a little faster after I had let them out, but no matter. I was planning on re-appearing anyway, I would never dream of letting you take the world for yourself."

"Hmm... I see. Well, that is an interesting story. So how do you plan to stop me?"

"By taking back what is not yours!" A new voice echoed in the distance. The attention was turned once more to the seven new people that had entered the room. Yugi was standing in an hero stance in the front row of the crowd, "Dartz, you are under arrest for kidnapping, attempted murder, homicide, home invasion, assault, and attempted world take-over!" Dartz and Bakura looked at one another and laughed.

"Well look here, the little police man with the odd haircut thinks the law is powerful enough to stop us," Bakura said in a laugh, "Nice try, kid, but the law was never something to obey to begin with."

"When I'm through with you, you're going to wish the law was invovled," Seto stated, moving himself to the front of the crowd, his eyes focused on one man only, "Dartz, you will pay for what you have done to my son. If you hand him over now, I may not kill you as slowly as I plan to." Yugi nearly fell over.

"Kaiba! That's murder!"

"No Yugi, that's payback."

* * *

**A/N:** _Hello reviewers and readers alike! I suppose ou're looking for an explaination as to why I haven't updated in forever. Well, as annoying as it sounds, I got my new compter chord and that broke as well within 3 days. I know, annoying. But fear not, for I have learned the ways of the flash drive and therefore plan to use it to continue my work as scheduled!(the last hardware I used to transfer documents was floppy disks, so you can see why this was a big deal for me.) Anyways, I'm terribly sorry for the wait, and I really hope I can get the next chapter to you WAYYYY sooner than this chapter ended up coming out. Thanks for all your wonderful reviews and don't stop believing!_

_P.S: I hope the ending wasn't too odd, I wasn't sure where the cut off should be. Oh yeah, and this was all mainly dialogue. I'm sorry for that too, but I promise the next chapter will have a lot more going on. I just needed one chapter with all the explanations. Hope you enjoyed the chapter anyway!_


	14. Chapter 13: Brutal Realizations

xblackrosefirex: Yay! I was wondering where you were. It's cool though, summer does tend to get a little complicated sometimes. But it's good to hear that you've been keeping up with my story so far. Thanks for the review and enjoy the chapter!

journey maker: Yeah, you won't need to worry too much, I've got a lot of characters on their way, ready to fight for Steven and Shu. Or, well, then again... possibly not. Bakura could complicate things. Thanks for the review!

AmePiper: Okay, so I totally rushed to complete this chapter because I really wanted you to read it before you left! It sucks that you'll be leaving before I could get the NEXT chapter up(this chapter also has a lot of dialogue going on here too) But still, I tried my best. Oh, and if I don't hear from you sooner, happy birthday darling! I hope you have a splendid birthday indeed! Wow, that bad of an experience with flash drives? Geez... I hope that doesn't happen to me! Oh my gosh, and that one comment with "I'll still be here stalking you" that made me laugh so much! Seriously, in the creepiest of ways, that gives me hope. That no matter how much of a failure I become in the next couple years, that you'll still stalk my work like I did rock at life. Haha! Oh, and going back to the beginning of your review(which I just realized I missed, your review was so long! It was awesome) I would totally draw you a picture of that scene... if I didn't suck t art. Seriously, I would've, but I can't. Okay, so I better rush off to the other reviewers so I can get this chapter up and running before you run off to never ever land, but otherwise thanks for your wicked review and I'm always doing fine when you're there to stalk me! Hope this chapter cures your boredness, if any is contained!

Rena Redhead: I'm glad you liked the Noah part. I was personally fearful for that chapter, considering how dull it was compared to all the other adventures the other YGO characters were going on. Yeah, I think my favorite scene out of the 4 was Gozaburo's too... although it does compete with Yugi's Star Wars scene a lot too. Yeah, Gozaburo is the epitome of a jerk. He's just THEE jerk, basically. And yes, that was the real Gozaburo. None of the bad guys in the virtual world have bodies, but those were the real guys(I mean, their real minds digitized that is) Hope that isn't too confusing to understand. But otherwise, thanks for your reviews!(sorry I'm making it so hard for you to catch up) But enjoy the chapter otherwise!

Kukki Boo: Yeah, Ms. Darochell was kind of a failure child. But I totally designed her that way on purpose. Cause I'm so professionally amazing like that! Hahaha, I liked Grandpa's little tribute too. I'll tell you little secret too... Grandpa's purpose... yeah, he doesn't have one. I put him in that chapter only to tell his tale and be a child about it an that's it. Otherwise, he's just going to be there. Does that make me cool or what? Thanks for the review, enjoy the chapter!(and it's good to have you back!)

Chapter 13: Brutal Realizations

The room, it seemed, was ultimately divided into three groups. Each group possessed it's own set of goals and desires. The first group consisted of Dartz, Pegasus, Alister, Valon, Rafael, and Kimo. The second group consisted of Seto, Kisara, Yugi, Grandpa, Duke, Mokuba, and Tea. The very last group consisted of one person and one person alone; Bakura. Each group was standing apart from the others, forming a triangle. Dartz chuckled a bit at the situation.

"Well, isn't this lovely? The gang's all here." Dartz was looking around the room at both the groups standing before him, utterly pleased with how his plan was unraveling itself.

"You didn't actually think that my disturbing step father and his psychotic son would be enough to stop us, did you?" Seto said with pride. Bakura rolled his eyes.

"Oh course not. I knew the 'great Seto Kaiba' should at least be able to bring down his own step family. Its really too bad that your good fortune ends here." Seto's pride vanished, why was Dartz still talking down to him as if he was nothing to fear? Seto was planning on proving him wrong, the hard way.

"Enough with the small talk, where is my son?" Seto said in a low voice. Kisara pushed her way in front of the others and stood by Seto.

"I wish to know where my son is, as well." Dartz eyed her carefully, he wasn't sure who she was or what son she could possibly be talking about. Was this Seto's wife? No, it couldn't have been, or else she would've tagged along with him from the very beginning. Gozaburo had never mentioned this person being trapped in the virtual world either. So who was she?

Shu's eyes brightened at the sight of his mother coming to the rescue. His heart felt like it had nearly jumped out of his chest; he didn't realize how much he had missed her. It seemed like an eternity since he had last seen her face. A smile appeared as he called out to her, "Mommy!"

There was a hush in the room and it suddenly came to Dartz. He grinned, no longer confused and back in control of the situation. "Ah, so that is who you are. The mother of Shu... I see. Forgive me, I never had the pleasure of meeting you. Although I am aware that you are the Seth's lover-in-hiding. I'm so glad we finally got to meet face to face."

Embarrassment tried to find its way to Kisara's heart, but she swallowed hard and ignored it. Nothing else mattered at this point, all she wanted was her son back safe and sound. Seto looked over at Kisara; it was obvious that Dartz's statement had left some damage. He wasn't sure what Dartz meant by it, but he knew he didn't like anything that hurt Kisara. "Look Dartz, we're not here to discuss our positions, we're here to get our sons back. Now you can either hand them over or we'll be taking them from you," Seto growled.

"If your son is what you want, fine. You can have him," Dartz snapped his fingers and Alister stepped forward with Steven dangling motionless in Alister's grip. Alister was confused by Dartz actions, and wasn't sure what he was planning. Dartz turned to Alister and nodded, "You heard me, release him." Alister shrugged and dropped him onto his own two feet.

Seto was a little bewildered by Dartz sudden change of heart, but the site of his son alive was enough for him to forget his suspicion. "Steven!" Seto cried happily, taking a few steps towards him. But he froze soon afterwards, noticing Steven remained motionless, even by his own free will. Seto cocked his head to the side, "Steven... why aren't you...?" Steven looked up, his eyes were angry. More angry than Seto had ever seen before in his life. The happiness vanished. "Steven?"

"Why did you even bother coming?" Steven spat; there was no sign of happiness in his voice to be found. Seto froze, shocked by Steven's voice.

"Steven... why are you acting like this? Don't you want to get out of here and go back home?" Seto's attention immediately went back to Dartz, "Dartz! What did you tell him?"

"I told him nothing but the truth, Seto Kaiba." Seto shook his head and looked back at Steven.

"Steven... what's going on?" Steven glared at him.

"You know exactly what's going on! The only reason I'm here is because of you, Kaiba!" Seto's heart pinched at the sound of his last name. Kaiba; the way he had said it, the way that most people said it, was said out of disgust, or anger. His last name was usually uttered like an insult, it could almost be seen as a word that meant 'less than' or a monster. His last name was like a curse, because every time he heard it, only one person would come to mind; Gozaburo.

Seto shook his head, trying to regain himself and pull himself out of distant memories. "Steven, what are you talking about? I came all the way here to rescue you! I risked my life to save you! You're my son and I would do anything for you!" Seto desperately said, hoping his words would snap Steven out of whatever was controlling his mind. Dartz must've brain washed Steven like Noah had brain washed Mokuba in the virtual world. If he could just jog Steven's memory, maybe he would remember who Seto was.

"Oh yeah, you may how come now. But sooner or later you would've traded me off just as fast as Shu's father traded off him!"

"What are earth are you talking about Steven??" Dartz stepped forward and placed his hand on Steven's head.

"It's called destiny, Seto Kaiba, I'm sure you heard of it. I'd explain what he means, but then again, you would just say it was all a 'mind trick'" Seto gritted his teeth. What was Dartz talking about? And how could Steven have believed him? Seto shook his head and turned his attention back to Steven, holding out his hand towards him.

"I'm in charge with my own destiny!" Dartz waved his finger at him.

"And your belief thinking that is true will be your down fall. Destiny is not something you can control."

"What does that have to do with the situation anyway? What does this have to do with me?" Dartz motioned Rafael to step forward, who was still restraining Shu within his grasp. Kisara stepped forward and held out her arm, but was held back by Tea. It wasn't safe to try and attempt to reunite with her son. Kisara nodded with understanding and continued to silently watch the scene play out between Dartz and Seto.

Seto was confused and taken back by what he saw. A child, one of ancient Egyptian blood, but appeared to look exactly like Steven in every aspect. Wait... Kisara, had told him this before. Were Steven and Shu really reincarnations of one another? Did this mean that Seth's actions were the cause of his family's pain? Destiny... he wanted nothing more to do with it. He didn't want to believe any of this was true, why would anyone cause two boys such pain?

Seto shook his head and directed his attention back towards Steven. "Steven... please. I don't know what Dartz told you, but whatever it was, it wasn't true! I love you Steven, I would do anything for your happiness and safety!" This seemed to trigger something else that sparked more anger that was buried deep within himself. Mokuba's eyes widened; he could feel what was about to come next and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

"Oh really, is that why you lied to me? Is that why I don't have a mother? Is that why you're parents are dead?" Steven didn't stop there, "Is that why I'm about to be killed and used as an offering for a terrifying beast? At this point, the only person who's really come close to being a father is Dartz... I mean, at least he's told me the truth and has some sort of use for me!"

"Steven, I know I've made some mistakes, but Dartz can not is the last man you could see as a father. Steven, I love you. I'm sorry I lied to you Steven, I promise I'll never do it again, just please... come back to me. Don't do this."

"Yeah, that's easy for you to say, isn't it? You weren't the gullible idiot that believed their father truly loved them all their life until they discovered that everything they once knew was nothing but a lie," Tears were starting to stream down Steven's face, the emotions were swirling inside his head, almost making him feel sick. Mokuba couldn't stand to watch anymore, Seto's shattering heart was almost too much to bear. Steven took one last deep breath ad said, "I never want to see you again."

Mokuba looked away. He couldn't bear to watch anymore of the scene, he didn't want to ee his brother's face in pain. Kisara was shocked and utterly taken back, unsure if she should intervene or remain silent. No one was sure whether they should say something or not. The only person who didn't seem affected by this incredibly emotional situation was the whole bad guy crew, including Dartz, who seemed to be enjoying this the most. Aside from Bakura, of course. There was nothing more entertaining than to watch people fall apart.

"Steven... I'm so sorry..." Seto said in a very quiet voice, so quiet no one could quite make out what he had even said. Dartz shrugged, becoming slightly bored with the situation. He had his fun, now he needed to get back to what he had planned all along.

"It's been fun, Kaiba, but I should really get back to taking over the world... in the mean time, why don't you visit an old friend's neighborhood for me?" Seto looked up.

"No! Wait!" Dartz swung his arm in the air and held out a small, glowing crystal in his hand. A green vortex appeared behind them and began to suck the seven teenagers into it. "STEVEN!" There was a blinding green light that flashed through-out the room as a couple screams were heard. When the green flash disappeared, so did the vortex, and the seven intruders that had fallen within it.

Alister, Valon, and Rafael were completely baffled by this. "...Does anyone ever wonder how he does half the things he seems to be able to do just with that glowing rock?" Valon asked awkwardly.

"It's best not to question it... or to even mention it," Rafael said in a low voice, hoping not to be heard by the other various 'big bads' in the room. Meanwhile Pegasus was looking around the room, as if he were searching for something. He raised one eyebrow in surprise. They were gone. They were really gone. Just like that, Seto Kaiba and his band of geeks had disappeared into a swirling vortex of doom. Pegasus smiled; he had to get himself one of those glowing rocks sometime, he didn't know it could be so easy to get rid of intruders that fast!

"That's quite a handy rock you have there, Dartz. I didn't know the orichalcos could be so useful," Bakura said, imagining what power that one single rock could enable him to do. Maybe that ancient stone was what he needed to complete his complete take over of the world. With the others gone, it seemed the only thing in his way now was Dartz. Bakura was confident that the other five wouldn't be much of a problem to deal with afterwards.

"You're not even aware of half the power this crystal possesses, and I intend to use it to create a new world!" Dartz looked down at Su and Steven, "Don't worry children, it'll all be over soon. Both you're suffering and the suffering of the rest of the world! I WILL create the perfect utopia!" Bakura rolled his eyes.

"Yeah... you keep telling yourself that, cause if you haven't noticed, I'm still here. Don't think you're out of the clear yet, Dartz." Dartz was almost surprised to hear Bakura speak in such a threatening voice.

"Bakura, are you suggesting that you're going to fight me?"

"Right here and now, bud."

"Alright then, we shall do battle then." Alister, Valon, and Rafael were a little surprised to hear him say that. Didn't have some trick up his sleeve? Wasn't there some way of poofing Bakura into a random vortex? From the look in Dartz eyes, all three of them could tell Dartz was ready to fight. Valon immediately ran up to where Dartz was.

"Um... sir-I mean-Master... are you sure you want to do this? I mean, we're so close to summoning the great leviathan, and we have the two boys..." Valon eyed both of the broken hearted children standing not too far off, "I mean, are you sure you don't just want to summon him and then fight this guy?" Dartz didn't answer, he imply pushed Valon to the side, keeping his eyes on Bakura at all times. Dartz brought up his hand and opened his palm, revealing the orichcalcos that has just sent Seto and the others to another dimension. He grinned.

"So what item could you possibly possess that could match up against the awesome power of my orichcalcos?" Bakura almost wanted to laugh. He brought his hand down and pulled out the millennium ring that had been hidden from under his shirt.

"Why, my millennium ring, of course. You might have a shiny rock, but my ring possesses ancient Egyptian power... and if we all remember our history, my civilization was the one that didn't sink underwater. So guess who has the upper hand?"Dartz eyes sparked with rage. How dare he insult the great city of Atlantis, his kingdom and home. Dartz gripped the crystal tightly within his fingers, holding it out in front of Bakura as it began to glow.

"We'll just see about that," Dartz said in a dark voice, focusing all his energy into activating the power of the orichcalcos. Bakura pointed his ring in Dartz direction as well. It also began to glow, but it gleamed with a bright yellow color. Suddenly beams shot out of both ancient items, colliding with the other item's beam. Dartz and Bakura stood their ground as they fought to over power the other's item. Sweat dripped down the sides of Bakura's face. Dartz's knees began to shake. They tried to put in more power, more force, but the beam remained evenly matched.

Meanwhile, Alister, Rafael, and Valon were standing quietly off to the side, staring at the scene in front of them. They couldn't believe their eyes, literally. They couldn't quite understand how a rock and a rather unfashionable ring could possibly shoot laser beams at one another. It just didn't seem logical to them. Rafael was slightly annoyed by this fact; if rocks could do that, why couldn't he? It just didn't seem fair.

"Do you have any idea what's going on?" Alister asked out randomly after about five minutes of standing in silence, watching this odd turn of events occur before their eyes. Valon shrugged.

"Not a clue," Valon said, "I mean, you'd think Dartz would make it easy for himself and for us by just flipping out a gun and just shooting the guy. You know? I mean, why does he have to do... whatever he's doing? Why can't he just kill him with a bullet and a shot gun like normal people do?"

"You wouldn't understand the powers in which both the millennium items and the orichcalcos hold..." Pegasus said, standing beside them. His eyes were locked on the fight, but were staring at it in awe rather than confusion. Rafael sighed.

"Right... that's exactly it." Alister and Valon shook their heads in Pegasus's direction; that guy was even creepier up close.

Back on the battle field, or what had become a battle field, Dartz and Bakura were still struggling to over power the other. But it seemed both attempts made were useless, and the battle seemed nothing more than a stand off. Dartz and Bakura broke away from the fight, causing the beams of light to disappear instantly. Bakura and Dartz were bent over, panting and letting the sweat drip down their faces. Bakura looked over at Dartz from the corner of his eye.

"It seems as though..." Dartz took a breath, "We are evenly matched."

"Yeah..." Bakura said between pants, "It seems so... how... incredibly... lame." Dartz took in one last deep breath before regaining his composure and standing upright again. His face was still sweating, but not as much, and his lungs were slowly starting to recover. And from where Dartz was, it appeared Bakura was in the same condition as he was. "Well... I guess I'll see you later," Bakura said plainly, turning away.

"Are you giving up?" Bakura stopped.

"Do you really think it would be that easy?"

"I don't know, have you ever been evenly matched with an opponent?" Bakura chuckled.

"Don't you worry Dartz, I'll be back. Just like before, when the time comes, we will meet again. But don't celebrate this too much... I'll be back with even greater power." Bakura began walking away and disappeared into the shadows of the room just as mysteriously as he had entered it. Dartz was going to be in for the surprise of his life, for he too wished to summon a beast powerful enough to destroy the world. The great Leviathan will be no match for the beast Bakura will arise from the dead, Dartz will see.

Dartz, remaining where he stood, was unfazed by Bakura's statement. Bakura was allowed to believe whatever he wanted, but Dartz knew what was to come next and nothing was going to stand in his way now. The great Leviathan would be summoned and now there was nothing anyone could do about it. Finally Dartz turned to his audience; Alister, Valon, Rafael, Kimo, Pegasus, Steven and Shu. The last remaining people in the room. Dartz grinned; they would all be witnessing to the strongest and deadliest beast alive. Dartz's eyes narrowing on the two boys; all of them except for those two.

"It is time." Alister let out a loud groan.

"FINALLY!" He bent forward and heaved Steven and Shu up, one arm around each boy, and carried them over to where Dartz stood, "Okay, let's get this going. What do was have to do first? Should we pound them into a pulp? How about we twist their arms back until they say 'uncle'? Oh, I know! Let's dissect them!"

"Oh, that sounds fun!" Alister said, jumping up and down while clapping his hands. Dartz twisted around and the moment Alister and Valon saw his face, they fell silent.

"The ritual will require none of those things..."

"Then what do we do?" Rafael asked.

"You may sit and watch, while I work the magic," Dartz unraveled his hand, revealing the orichcalcos in hand. It seemed to be reacting to something, because it began to glow a bright green again and floated out of his palm and remained still in thin air. Steven and Shu were in awe of it's unusual beauty, somehow the way it glowed now rather then how it had before, it just seemed different. There was a small crack that was heard, and the glowing crystals broke off into two separate crystals now. Both floated down at the same rate and were now in between Steven and Shu.

"So what now?" Valon asked, who was jabbed in the gut by Alister in return. Dartz was watching in delight the boys, who were completely mesmerized by this rare crystal's beauty.

"Now... each of you must take hold of the one orichcalcos that is floating before you. If you can withstand it's power, than you will be sacrificed and your body's will be used to power the Leviathan's rebirth." Shu snapped out of his trance and looked back at Dartz.

"Wait... you mean we're going to die?!" Dartz smiled and patted Shu on the head.

"You're a bright one, aren't you?" Shu turned back to Steven. He was still staring at the orichcalcos in front of him, but it was obvious he was no longer locked within his trance. No, the way his eyes met his end was much more then that. His eyes held all the anger and frustration that had been generated from both what Dartz had told him, and the reunion with his father. It was easy to see that he wanted nothing more than to grab that crystal right ut of the air and let it take his life like it was worthless.

"Steven..." Shu pleaded, "Your father was only-"

"Shut up Shu, don't talk like you knew him," Steven barked. He wouldn't even allow the chance for Shu to finish what he had to say. Shu looked down in shame.

"And yet... I do know him. Don't you get it, Steven? Our father's are practically the same people, just as you and I are the same person. We're connected, somehow, that is why we look alike and act the same." Steven shot a glare at Shu. How dare Shu compare himself to Steven! Steven was nothing like Shu, that had become quite obvious a long time ago. Dartz was enjoying this site.

"You have become more like him..." Steven looked up.

"What are you talking about?"

"That look in your eyes... that is the look your father has whenever someone compares his actions to that of his step father's. The great Seto Kaiba is nothing like his father. Does that work the same for you, young Steven Kaiba?" Steven shook his head and shot his hand forward.

"Steven, no!"

"I WILL NEVER BE LIKE HIM!" Steven gripped the crystals as hard as he could, the room began to flash green all around Shu looked around, looking for a way out, but found his hand was being controlled by some other force and shot at the crystal just as Steven hand, gripping the orichcalcos in his hand. Su let out a scream of despair as the green flashes became so bright, it was blinding.

Steven put up no fight. He let the powers and forces of the orichcalcos take complete control. He let his body go with the flow, he no longer cared anymore what would happened next. There was nothing left to live for, there was nothing to-

"Fine." There was a voice. It sounded... familiar. "My decision was... I want to keep the baby." Steven's eyes widened and his body twist around. He knew that voice, and what he saw was exactly as he had thought. It was his father, many years back, and apparently his... mother. They were sitting on a couch together. Serenity looked aay and put her hands on her face. "Oh God... Serenity, please don't tell me..."

"I had a feeling this would happen." What would happen? What was he talking about?

"Serenity, I don't understand why we can't just..."

"Because I have a life to live!" Serenity walked past Steven like he were an invisible ghost and over to a window, her eyes gazing out of it, "I can't have a baby now. I'm too young with so much more to live for." Steven's mind sparked. A baby; they were talking about him! His mother was pregnant!

"A baby won't kill you."

"But it will kill my career and eveything else I wanted to do. It'll put my whole life on hold, I'm not ready to sit down and just do that."

"Serenity..." His father's voice was so soft in that moment, it was a voice he had heard only on a few occasions in his early childhood. His father was one who hid behind many walls, but it seemed in this moment, that didn't matter. "Please... please don't kill or give up our child. I'm begging you... we can make this work. I'm sure we can."

"Kaiba... we're two completely different people who don't know anything about each other."

"That doesn't mean we can't try... I want to give our baby the life it deserves. It didn't pick us, it was given to us as a gift from God to love and take care of." Steven was in absolute shock. Was this for real? Could that have really been his father seven years ago? Steven couldn't believe it. But even in his disbelief, he continued to see more.

And yet there she was, his mother lying in a hospital bed, panting from exhaustion. His father was by her side, her hand in his. She was looking up weakly into his eyes. There was a soft cry in the distance, one that was belonging to an infant.

"Seto Kaiba, I may have given birth to that child, but he was your child from the moment I concieved him. I can't share that child with you, I never..." She looked like she was trying to keep herelf from crying, "I wanted to actually... kill it..." Steven's heart stopped. This was the day that his mother gave him up. This was the day she decided to leave him for good.

"No Serenity, it wasn't like that."

"It was... and it was all that and more... Seto, you're that child's one and only parent. The one parent he needs," Serenity squeezed Seto's hand, "You know Seto... there was another reason why I wanted to keep the baby other than thinking we could make it work between us..."

"There was? What was it?"

"That... I almost knew, from the very beginning, that you would be a great father and to this day, I still feel that way." The image began to blur as Steven's eyes started to water up, "He's your child from now on, I know you'll raise him right and give him everything he needs." Steven's mouth began to tremble. Now it felt like everything he had just pushed himself into believing had crumbled before his very eyes. His father... his father loved him. His mother... she had cared for him. Things didn't happen as harshly as he had first thought.

But there was still one more scene to show. And this was to be the most shocking of all. "But what if... what if he's not happy?" The words stung Steven, every single one of him. It was his father, seven years into the past, talking about Steven. He knew his father was talking about him. Mokuba was standing apart from his older brother, he looked so young, yet... so wise.

"That baby is very happy, and he should be because he's got a dad like you." Mokuba's words seemed to sting him even more than Seto's. Steven felt terrible for everything he had said, he didn't even want to think about how Mokuba must've saw him after what he said to Seto.

"You keep saying that, but I still don't think it's true." And suddenly the room got quiet as Seto looked Mokuba sternly in the eyes, "But there is one thing you must promise me, Mokuba."

"What's that?"

"We can never tell him the truth about his mother."

"What? Why?" Steven found himself thinking the same thing; he needed to know why his father thought for one second that that was a logical thing to do.

"It's too painful. Besides, he doesn't need to know." Steven's guilty feelings vanished.

"Every kid deserves the right to know at least a little about their mom or dad." Steven found himelf agreeing with every word that Mokuba said.

"Mokuba, this is serious. You have to promise me."

"But I feel like he should know."

"Mokuba."

"Nii-sama, what would telling him do?"

"It would hurt him so badly that he would never be able to heal. I just couldn't stand to see him in pain like that," Seto closed his eyes, "The worst pain of all is watching someone you love in pain and knowing there's nothing you can do to make it better." And in that moment, Steven knew exactly what his father meant.

Seto was somewhere far away, in pain, and Steven couldn't do anything to make it better.

It was all over.

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**A/N:** _Hey guys! So I'm just going to get straight to the point because I have a lot to say and very few time to write it all and post it in time. So first of all, bravo for the longest chapter this story has ever had, you just read it, and I hoped you enjoyed it. Second of all, I wanted to say welcome back to all my reviewers. It's good to see you guys haven't totally lost hope in me, I was pretty lonely without you guys(seriously, it was like, dude, where's my review?) Okay, that was a terrible movie reference... moving on! Another thing I would like to note is that my dearest step brother should be given a round of applause for the chapter title(I could not, for the life of me, figure out what to call this chapter, and with such little time on my hands, I couldn't be artistic about it. I might change it later on if I 'm suddenly inspired with a better title, like how I want to change the title of the prologue... AGAIN!) But yeah, I know it's not the greatest of titles, but it's a title and it's what I needed to finish this chapter. I also wanted to say sorry, I know I promised you guys more action, when instead there was just more diologue, more explaining and... oh wait, there was an ancient egyptian laser beam battle. That should be enough action to hold you guys over till next chapter, right? Yeah, the next chapter is going to have A LOT more going on, and believe me, it'll be worth so much diologue and explaining! And the LAST thing I wanna say is... gosh, I hope there aren't too may references to my past stories. I feel like I keep making them watch all these past memories and see all these flashbacks and god, you guys must be so sick of flashbacks by now. I'm sorry, I swear we're not gonna see another flashback for at least... I don't know, A LOT of chapters. Anyhow, I really hoped you liked this chaoter and I hope to hear what you all thought soon!_

_P.S: Everyone should say happy birthday to AmePiper before she leaves on the 9th! Happy birthday my dearest reviewer, I hope you have a blast at the beach and an amazing birthday as well!_

_P.P.S: I have no idea why there's a page break at the end of this page either, sorry guys._

_P.P.P.S: I was seriously, drop Ame a PM or something. She's awesome, you know it._

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	15. Chapter 14: Dirty Little Secret

xblackrosefirex: Yay! You got the references! Seriously, that makes me so happy. I mean, it's not like I didn't think you guys wouldn't get it, it's just that it's been SUCH a long time since that story was finished and the past two stories have kind of forgotten it existed pretty much. This just means you'll ace your pop quiz! Just kidding, thanks for the review and enjoy the chapter!

Kukki Boo: Hahaha! There should be a warning about that, something that says "WARNING: Do not read reviews before you read actual chapter. You might be slightly confused and alarmed!" Okay, that was a terrible joke, but sometimes they can't all be funny. I'm glad you like the flashbacks, sometimes I feel like I'm putting too many of those in here. Hahaha, I should've ended it there. But so many people would've wanted to kill me(besdies, I think I already tricked you guys once before... or was that Mother, May I? I feel like this has been such a long journey since then, it's like I know you guys!) Yeah, like I said, haven't really mentioned A Gift From God in forever, so I thought it might be cool. Check out my author's note for another fun fact(or something I was gonna put in here, but decided it should go in the author's note) Thanks for the review!

Journey Maker: Aw... you never mentioned how much you loved my story... that worries me. I hope that doesn't mean m stories sucks! Well, thanks for the review anyway! Hahaha, enjoy the chapter!

Rena Redhead: Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me... don't you wish your girlfriend was WRONG like me?! Don't CHA?? Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I don't know why that just happened, and I'm not going to make up an excuse as to why that just happened. Gosh, I love how you call me brilliant! It's just such cool word, so the fact that you describe me like that makes me feel special!:3 Yeah, I had to really work tht diologue like it was my child back in that... uh... whatever chapter it was. It's good to know that you're all caught up! I guess this means you can actually enjoy the chapters again... just kidding, you always have!(right?! I kid) Gosh, I should really thank you for all those amazing compliments you seem to give me daily, like dude, it makes me feel like such a legit writer. Things that I just see as random and weird, you seem to find a deeper meaning within it all. It's like you've found the key to my inner soul and truest work. And I couldn't ask for much more, cause when a reader understands your work, she understands you which not a lot of people do. It's just awesome having you as a friend dude, thanks so much for being one. Oh, and thanks for the review!(that was awkward and random... cool)

AmePiper: It was no problem whatsoever! I simply HAD to mention you're wonderful birthday, you are my most trusted reviewer after all! And I had never thought of it that way; Mokuba being sort of stuck in the middle that is(but I find that this occurs a lot of the time with my story, people will make connections and see themes I didn't even realize my story had until they told me) But yeah, I could see that actually. Yeah, I PMed you, cause I couldn't risk you leaving without reading the chapter before hand! Actually a lot of these reviewers have pretty much stuck with me through-out all three stories, that's why I kinda feel like their family in a way cause it's been such a long journey(writing these stories I mean) I'm totally optimistic! I just so happen to not be about my work... but you're right, I need to shape up my attitude. I'll try to prolonge the posting of this chapter for as long as I can so you won't have to suffer... but the real challenge is prolonging myself from writing. I just love it so much it's almost painful not to do! But anyhow, I better split since this is getting longer than the chapter. I hope you had an awesome birthday! Thanks for the review!

Chapter 14: Dirty Little Secret

"So... does anyone have a clue as to where we are?" Tea asked, looking around. They were standing in the middle of a deserted village. The sky over head was dark, with a silent wind and blew through the empty village. There was no sign of people or life anywhere. The houses were very plain and simple, but they also shared the emptiness that the village brought about.

No one spoke. Seto was standing off to the side, a grim look on his face. No one could imagine what he must've been feeling in that moment, but no one was brave enough to ask and find out either. "No one?" Tea asked; asking for the soul purpose of hearing a sound. Kisara was the only one who didn't look confused.

"We're in Egypt."

"...What?" Kisara faced them.

"We're in ancient Egypt. I know it, this is my village." Yugi and the rest of the gang looked all around. Yugi's eyes widened. It was Egypt. He remembered this place. He remembered what things looked like when him and the others had traveled through Atem's memories.

"But where is everyone?" Duke asked.

"The war... they must've fled to avoid getting involved in the fighting."

"Well, Dartz picked a perfect time to zap us to ancient Egypt," Tea said. Kisara pointed behind them at the palace that was off into the distance.

"We need to go there and meet with the Pharaoh, maybe he will help us."

"The Pharaoh?!" Yugi said excitedly, running ahead, "Come on guys, let's get see the Pharaoh!"

"Hey, wait up Yugi!" Duke called, running after him with Grandpa following from behind. Tea and Mokuba went after them as well. Kisara was about to start off herself, but stopped and looked at Seto. His face was dark with internal despair. Kisara walked over to him and placed her hand over his. Seto's eyes gazed up and into her face.

"Come now Seto... the Pharaoh is the only one who can help us find Seth." A surge of anger jolted through him. Seth; he's the reason any of this was happening. He's the reason Steven was going to die. He had to be punished for what he had done. Seto nodded and headed towards the palace, keeping Kisara's hand within his.

When they had reached the palace, surprisingly there weren't any guards. Kisara looked around, expecting someone to stop them from entering the palace without clarifying who they were. But the palace seemed just as void as the rest of the village.

"We can't waste any time," Kisara stated. Yugi was way ahead of her, already pushing the doors open and running in. The others followed behind him. Kisara turned down another hallway and beckoned the others to follow. "This way." They followed without any resistance. It was odd, where was everyone?

"There he is!" Tea called, pointing into a large meeting room. Atem was sitting in a large, royal chair at the end of the room, he was surrounded by the other guardians whom appeared to be discussing something very important. Yugi didn't wait for them to be done, he hurried off to where Atem was sitting.

"Atem!" Yugi called. The sacred guardians were the first ones to turn their attention towards the short boy that was running towards them. Shada ran forward and held out his millennium key in Yugi's direction.

"Halt, intruder! What do you think you're doing in the royal palace? And do you have no respect for the Pharaoh? Calling out such a name towards the Pharaoh can get you killed!" Yugi froze and held up his hands on the air.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to insult anyone! I just..."

"Yugi?" Atem pushed through the other guardians and stood at the top of the stairway looking down at him. A smile grew on his face. "Yugi!" Yugi laughed and ran towards him, Atem did the same until they embraced each other in a good natured hug. "What on earth are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know, I was just passing through the neighborhood and thought I might drop in," Yugi said with a smirk. Atem looked up to see the others that walked into the room as well. Yugi noticed him staring at the others and gave another laugh, "Yeah, I thought I'd bring the whole gang along. We've really missed you since you left!"

"And I have missed you, my friends!" Atem said happily, but then his smile seemed to fade away, "...But, why again are you here?" Yugi frowned.

"Well, it's kind of a long story Atem... You see, we were kind of... zapped here, I mean, if that makes any kind of sense." Atem placed his hand on Yugi' shoulder.

"In this series, nothing has to make sense... but please continue; who was it that zapped you here?"

"Do you remember Dartz?"

"...The stranger from Atlantis?"

"More like the psychotic villain that kidnapped two children, plans to summon the great Leviathan once more, and will use all the power he has in order to take over the world... if you're referring to that guy, then we're thinking of the same guy." Atem put his hand to his forehead, how could he have not foreseen these events? How could he have missed the evil that lay within his heart? Did this have something to do with Seth's behavior?

"Um... Pharaoh?" Isis asked, feeling guilty that she was interrupting them, but also hated the feeling of standing around and not knowing what was happening, "Do you happen to know these people? Who are they?"

"Yes, I do. I'm sure you might remember them too if you tried. These are my friends." Mana ran down to where Atem and Yugi stood.

"I do! I do!" She said happily. "Especially you," she said looking at Yugi, "Because you resemble the Pharaoh so much." Yugi nodded.

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Atem chuckled. As Yugi and Atem became reacquainted with one another, Duke was standing awkwardly in silence, while Grandpa was checking out Isis and Mana, and as Tea was drooling over Atem and his hot, shirtless body. It was funny to watch Yugi and Atem together again, especially since they were telling each other stories of their lives like they were teenaged girls in high school.

Meanwhile, the guardians remained standing where they were, still confused and weren't sure how the Pharaoh knew these people. They were dressed oddly and just didn't seem like they belonged in Egypt to begin with. Where exactly did the Pharaoh know them from? The only people he even associated with directly were the sacred guardians and those who worked within the palace. Mahado, however, had his eyes on one character standing within the newcomer crowd.

"My Pharaoh," Mahado said, interrupting one of Yugi's long and epic stories he was telling Atem, "Forgive me for interrupting, but does that woman not look familiar to you?" Mahado pointed at Kisara. Atem turned and looked at her.

"You are... that woman... Kisara. You came to my palace a while ago, looking for your son..." Atem looked down in shame, "I am sorry that I was unable to help. Have you found your son?" Kisara shook her head. Mahado showed no signs of apathy whatsoever.

"Do not feel bad, my Pharaoh, we have much bigger problems then finding a lost boy. May I remind you of the current situation Egypt is in?" The happiness and excitement left Atem's face as he looked away. Yugi looked worried.

"What's he talking about, Atem?" Atem sighed.

"Egypt is in at war. To be more specific, civil war. One of the sacred guardians recently turned his back on us and has been trying to take over Egypt and seize the throne from me."

"But there is nothing more to fear, considering we have almost taken back almost all of what that monster Seth had taken over. We're only one battle away from winning this war and taking Seth down," Mahado said with pride. Kisara turned her attention back to Atem.

"My Pharaoh... please do not kill Seth. Although he seems to have taken the wrong path, I know somewhere inside of him is still the good man that had once vowed to serve the Pharaoh."

"Are you kidding me?" Mahado said, shocked that a lowly peasant girl would make such a statement in the presence of the Pharaoh himself, "Do you even know who that man is? What he has done to the people of Egypt and what he had tried to do in order to take the throne from our beloved Pharaoh?" Kisara glared at him.

"I know what's going on, and I know what I'm talking about, Mahado, so stay out of it." Mahado took a step back in surprise.

"How do you know my name and how could you possibly know what's going on? You've never even met Seth, how can you possibly say you know whether good or bad lie within his heart?" Mahado yelled. Kisara began to feel her knees begin to shake, she wanted to tell him exactly how she knew. She wanted to tell the whole world what she knew about Seth, to tell them of the man he once was before his heart had turned black. But the promise she had made many years to go to the man she loved echoed in her head. Mahado's eyes were threatening, and her heart was screaming to tell the truth. "Well??"

Kisara turned her head. "Nothing." The others were slightly confused by her reaction, as was Yugi. Hadn't Kisara told them that she knew Seth? Hadn't she mentioned that there was some sort of relationship between the two? No one understood what was going on, but knew it best to keep quiet about it. There was obviously a reason for her silence about the topic.

"That's what I thought... someone of your stature wouldn't know a thing about what's going on... the only thing that surprises me about you is the fact that you haven't run off like all the other cowardly villagers in Egypt..." Mahado eyed her, "Is there a reason you remained here? Why didn't you try and run?" Seto glared at Mahado. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he didn't like the way Mahado was talking down to Kisara as if she were dirt. His blood was beginning to boil.

"Mahado, stop this," Atem commanded, slightly surprised by Mahado's words. Mahado started to walk around Kisara, circling her with his eyes always remaining on her face.

"Don't you have an answer?"

"I don't have to tell you anything."

"What makes you think Seth is good guy? You never knew him like I did... ha! The man had always been arrogant and cocky. I had always had a feeling that he would turn on us one day... if only the rest of you had listened to me," Mahado glanced over at the other sacred guardians who were standing close by.

"Seth was not only a fellow guardian, but he was also a friend," Shada said.

"It's true... no one would've ever expected something like this would happen," Shimon added. Mahado turned his attention back to Kisara, who seemed to be affected more and more by Mahado's word as he continued to talk. Seto was gritting his teeth, trying to keep his anger at a controllable level.

"Seth..." Mahado chuckled, "Oh Seth... you always thought you were better than me. You always looked at me as though I were weaker than you. Well, not anymore... this afternoon I will be leading our army into the last scrap of land Seth has and wiping him out. Then he will finally see who was always the weakest one..." Kisara sent a punch right at Mahado's face and hit him dead on. Everyone gasped. Mahado's face was glided through the air and to the side, almost causing him to fall over before he found his footing again. He put his hand on his cheek.

"You'll always be weak, Mahado." Mahado held up a shaky finger towards her.

"My Pharaoh, did you not just witness that peasant girl attack me?! Have her stoned for her crime!"

"STOP calling me 'peasant girl', or I'll punch you again!" Kisara yelled. Mahado brought up his hand up to his chest and gripped the millennium ring that was hanging around his neck. He lifted the object and pointed it in Kisara's direction.

"I'm not afraid to use this!"

"You know? You really are pathetic..." Kisara walked over to where Mahado stood. Mahado quickly brought up his ring as if he were going to use it to attack Kisara, but instead she hit it away with her hand as if it were nothing. "You want to know how I know Seth, huh? You want to? I'll tell you why... I'm Seth's lover." There was another gasp. Kisara smirked, "Yep, that's right. I have been for the past seven years. And you know what else? My son you decided not to help me find? Yeah, he's Seth son too. Shu is Seth's son." Kisara put her face right up next to Mahado's face, her eyes staring so deeply and angrily into his, it felt as though she were looking into his soul, "And you know what else? Dartz has him. He has my son, and his son, and he's going to kill them both! So if you don't mind, I'll be leaving now." Kisara turned away and started walking towards the door.

Atem ran ahead of her and stood in front of her, "Wait Kisara! Is what you say true?"

"What do you think? Now move." Kisara tried to walk around Atem, but Atem shifted and kept his stance in front of her, blocking the way out. Kisara glared at him. "Get out of my way."

"Where are you going, Kisara?"

"I'm going to find Seth and talk some sense into him."

"But its dangerous! He could seriously hurt you Kisara."

"Do you think I care?! I'm going to save my son no matter what. It's all Seth's fault that this even happened, so I deserved to get a shot at him before you and your little army of five decide to disintegrate him." Kisara finally was able to walk past him. Atem stood still, shocked and in shame. Her words stung him, only because he felt like a fool and a terrible person. He should've helped her when he had the chance, he should've been able to prevent all of this from happening.

Seto watched her leave the room and decided he couldn't let her go alone. "Kisara! Wait!" Seto called after her, running towards the exit she had left through.

"Nii-sama? Where are you going?" Mokuba asked. Seto didn't stop nor give him an answer, he was out the exit within seconds, calling out Kisara's name. Mokuba shrugged. "Hold on, Nii-sama! I'm coming too!" Mokuba ran out of the room after them.

"Kaiba! Mokuba!" Tea yelled. But they were already gone. Tea shook her head, "I had a feeling this was going to happen." Tea faced Atem, "Should we go after them?" Atem looked down at the ground, unsure what to say. It was obviously dangerus, but Kisara had made him feel like such an idiot for letting a problem like this become worse. Mahado placed his hand on Atem's shoulder.

"Don't worry my Pharaoh, we'll send our forces out to find Seth and destroy him before she even reaches him." Atem shook his head.

"No... I don't think we should do that."

"What? Why not??"

"We should let them talk to Seth. I don't want to take any further action until they return." Mahado looked genuinely confused by Atem's orders. What could be possibly be thinking? That somehow those three strangers were going to be able to make things better? Mahado didn't understand his Pharaoh's thinking, but he knew an order was an order, and he had to obey.

"Should we go after them?" Duke asked.

"No, we better stay here," Yugi advised. Tea nodded with agreement.

"They'll be fine, I'm sure of it," Yugi said with a smile. The only trick to that was; he had to believe it for himself before it could actually happen. Yugi hoped that more than anything in the world Seto, Kisara, and Mokuba would come back safe and sound.

Kisara had broken off into a sprint, and Seto was fighting his hardest to catch up to her. "Kisara!" He yelled again for the 20th time, was she ignoring him on purpose? At one point he had finally managed to run fast enough to get semi-close to her. Seto stretched out his arm and grabbed Kisara's. The suddenly force pulling on her caused her to flip around and collide with Seto's chest, face first. Seto was motionless for a moment, feeling the awkwardness in the situation begin to rise. That was, until, he felt two arms wrapping around his waist and one face burying itself within his chest.

Seto's face melted, and his arms seemed to correspond with how he was feeling because before he knew it, his arms were around her as well. The two stood still, letting the silence explain the situation. Mokuba was the one to ruin this seemingly romantic moment, though, as he had finally caught up to them and was panting loudly.

"Geez, you guys run fast!" He noticed the position they were in, "Woah, did I miss something?" Kisara and Seto immediately broke away the instant he had asked. Both faces were red with embarrassment. Mokuba cocked his head to the side. "Hey... I did miss something, didn't I?" Kisara put her hand up to her face in a poor attempt to hide her rosy cheeks and turned away.

"We should probably get going if we want to reach Seth before the Pharaoh's army does..." Kisara said softly, walking away. Seto looked from Kisara to Mokuba, whom had his hands on his hips now.

"What happened?" Seto shook his head.

"Nothing! God Mokuba, why would you think anything happened? I swear! You are SO... SO... whatever you are!" Seto said with annoyance. Mokuba blinked.

"What the heck are you talking about?" Then he noticed that Seto's cheeks only seemed to get redder as he continued trying to pry information about what was going on. A huge grin grew onto his face, one that could've been seen for miles probably.

"Oh my god... you like her!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Mokuba starting laughing obnoxiously.

"Oh my god, you DO like her, don't you?! This is amazing!" Now Seto's whole body was red.

"What on earth are you talking about??" Seto said, trying to act as if Mokuba was talking like a mentally insane person.

"I can't believe it, you actually have a sex drive!"

"MOKUBA!"

"We should have a party or something, this is incredible!"

"Mokuba, I swear to God, if you don't stop this now I'm going to hit you!" Mokuba gasped.

"You can't hit me, that would be child abuse!"

"You're eighteen, Mokuba."

"Well... then it would be assault!"

"Mokuba, let me tell you this one last time... mention it again and I'll... do... something." Mokuba raised his eyebrow in confusion. Just then Seto turned around and started stomping away. "Hey, where are you going?" Mokuba asked once Seto started walking in the direction Kisara had walked off in.

"STAY!" Seto commanded as if Mokuba was some sort of puppy. Mokuba stopped for a moment, until realizing he was eighteen again, and continued to follow Seto.

"No way, I'm sticking with you. Besides, now that you actually like a girl that means you'll need me now more than ever!" Seto growled.

"Mokuba, it's too dangerous, okay? You should stay behind." Mokuba held out his index finger towards Seto as if he were an adult scolding him.

"Oh no you don't... I'm staying with you no matter what. Don't try and hide behind my safety!" Seto stopped.

"I'm not trying to hide anything Mokuba..." Seto sighed, "I really mean it. I want you to stay." Now Mokuba was totally confused, was this really not about Kisara anymore? "I can't... I can't risk these things anymore, Mokuba. I don't want to lose you like I lost..." Seto bit his lip.

"What? Nii-sama, you're not going to lose me. I'll always be with you."

"Mokuba, please just stay behind with the others. I really don't want you getting hurt."

"Nii-sama, I'm eighteen years old and more than capable of taking care of myself. The only reason I'm coming is because YOU'RE the one whose at high risk for getting hurt." Seto chuckled.

"I suppose if you look at it that way then its okay..." Mokuba smiled and playfully punched Seto in the arm.

"I've got you back, Bro, you can count on me. I took a bullet once and I'll surely take one again." Seto placed his hand on Mokuba's head, and for a split second, he saw his younger eleven year old brother looking back at him; with a smile on his face and innocence in his heart.

* * *

**A/N:**_ You know I just HAD to end it on that note! I mean, dude, we all love Steven, but we can't forget the brother fluff. A world without brother fluff is like a world without color. THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS HAPPINESS WITHOUT IT. Besides that, it's sad to say that this chapter wasn't as long as I would've liked it to be, nor did it have as much going on as I also would've liked. But I figure after posting such a long and dramatic chapter last time, maybe you'd forgive me. Although I will admit that I had promised you a more exciting chapter, and instead I gave you even more diologue. For that, I am sorry. But I do promise you this; the next chapter will be better. I really mean it this time too! There's gonna be a fight scene. That's exciting, right?! And on that note, I bid you farewell. It's good to have all my reviewers back!_

_P.S: Have any of you ever read Twilight? If you answered yes or no, then you should check out my coming soon section on my profile;)_

_P.P.S: For anyone who is horrified/utterly confused by my coming soon section, don't be too afraid. I'm not sure I'll actually write that fanfic. But I will say that if you'd like to see more of what I'll be dishing out next after this story, then you should definitely check out my 'Coming Soon' section in the next couple of days! I'll be needing opinions from readers just like you! So keep an eye out for that, and have a wonderful day!_


	16. Chapter 15: Looks Can Be Deceiving

Kukki Boo: I bet you weren't expecting this quick of an update! To tell you the truth, neither was I. I just started this chapter today(which I suppose by the time I post this, it'll be yesterday) and then somehow it finished it. I think it got finished so fast because something actually happens! Which everyone should be really happy about... at least I am. All that diologue was making me sick. Yep, brotherly fluff is what I live for. It wasn't until recently that I took a liking towards father fluff(teehee, it's cute because it starts with the same letter!) Anyhow, thanks for the review and enjoy the chapter!

xblackrosefirex: Mokuba is kind of a smart ass, isn't it? I hadn't thought of that, in a way it kind of mad me feel bad(mainly because my little brother is also quite the smart ass, and I'd never want a YuGiOh character to resemble such a demon) But I suppose I must accept what I cannot destroy. Okay, okay... I'll give you the tiniest bit of a spoiler... she does make a small appearance. But don't go telling all your friends, you hear? It'll be our little secret;) Thanks for the review and enjoy the chapter!

journey maker: Hahaha, it's nice to hear you still love it. I feel bad for accusing you of not loving it, I mean, you do say it a lot, so I think you deserve to have a break once and a while! I hope you can forgive me for being so... demanding(would that be the word?) Well, anyways, thanks for the review and enjoy the chapter!

Rena Redhead: Nothing like a review response to brighten your day, am I right? So I guess I'll just be responding to your reviews that are a chapter behind. I mean, why not? I suppose I'm just a little excited for the chapter(you should be too! After all, I have given you a bit of a preview... did I mention I was lying the other day about who was going to fight who? You actually guessed correctly) But onward to possibly the longest review I have received in... pretty much forever, I think(although AmePiper might've beat you out, but we'll see) Seto and Kisara... I'm almost fearful to continue to develop their romance any further for fear of damaging it. I'm not a romance writer, and I feel as though if I wrote romance it would be WAY over done. But I suppose we'll have to see what happens. Yeah, that Bakura line you liked was definitely out of the blue, but fit in perfectly, I did rather like that comment. And then, awesome about developing Steven and Shu. Actually a couple months ago I was on the phone with Becky The Sexy and I was telling her how worried I was about the characters, cause I felt like I wasn't developing as much as I should have, but you have given me confidence, therefore, you have given me reason to live again. Yeah, had to put in a Gift From God reference or two, can't forget where you came from, ya know? And I do tend to smack realizations in character's faces, haha. It's what I enjoy the most! But anyhow, I'm sure you're aching to read the story, so thanks for that awesomely long review and enjoy this semi-long chapter!

Chapter 15: Looks Can Be Deceiving

Seto, Mokuba, and Kisara were walking on the dirt path going through the deserted village. Mokuba was walking at a quicker pace and had kept himself busy by skipping occasionally and singing quietly to himself. Meanwhile Seto and Kisara were walking side by side slightly behind Mokuba, glancing each other awkwardly from time to time and then pretending not to when the other noticed. Mokuba did not notice this whatsoever, he was simply having fun singing to himself.

"...Baby you're all that I want, when you're lying here in my arms. I'm finding it hard to believe we're in heaven," Mokuba sucked in some air and continued, "And love is all that I need, and I found it there in your heart. It isn't too hard to see we're in heaven..." Mokuba tried singing with an emotional tone to his voice, grinning as he glanced back at his older brother. Seto rolled his eyes and shook his head. That was Mokuba, you're every day female dance singer. Mokuba winked at Seto before turning away and singing once more. Kisara giggled.

"You have to admit, he is funny. He's rather adorable too. You and him are brothers, are you not?" Seto looked a little surprised.

"How could you tell we were brothers?" Seto asked crossing his arms, "I mean, he looks nothing like me. Nor does he behave in such a manner that might lead you to believe we're related." Kisara looked up at Seto with a smile.

"It is not his looks, but by the way he looks up at you that tells me you're related." Seto shrugged.

"I guess you've got me there... Mokuba is quite the character. He can be a headache sometimes too, but for the most part I love him." Kisara turned and looked back over at Mokuba who was some distance away from both her and Seto.

"Yes... I can tell. You've raised him well." Another surprised look was on Seto's face. "I could sense that there was some death that followed... he looks up to you like a son would a father."

"Are you psychic?"

"No, I am merely a mother." Seto gave a small smile. And then the silence returned, and the awkwardness between the two floated back to the surface. Kisara glanced back up at Seto; a question flared within her mind. She had wanted to ask it for a while, but felt the timing had not been right until now. Kisara decided that she would ask and get it over with. "So..." she began, "Seto Kaiba... is there a Mrs. Kaiba?"

"What?" At first Seto wasn't sure what he meant, but then the idea came to his head and his cheeks turned slightly red, "-Oh, no. Steven was born out of wedlock. And since then she has been but a distant memory." Seto held out his hand and wiggled his ring finger as if to prove what he meant, even though Kisara had not questioned him.

"Oh... I am sorry to hear that." The awkward silence returned. But Seto didn't want it to, Kisara had asked him a question. Which meant she was interested in what he had to say, interested in his love life. Now excitement was taking over; did this mean Kisara felt the exact same strange feelings towards him as Seto felt towards her? Seto didn't want to pass this opportunity up.

"How about you?" Seto asked, "Is there a... Mr. ancient Egyptian Kisara?" Kisara gave a small smile as she raised her hand and wiggled her ring finger just as Seto had earlier. Seto's eyebrows were raised, "Really? But what about Seth?"

"We were merely lovers and nothing more." Seto was still utterly confused by this.

"But... why would he pass up the chance to marry you?" Kisara looked down at the ground.

"Because he had a highly respected position in the palace. If anyone had ever found out he not only had loved a peasant, but also had a child with her, he would've been thrown out and his reputation ruined." Seto frowned and shook his head.

"That's so... stupid. How much of an idiot is that guy?"

"Oh, and why do you say that?" Kisara said, feeling slightly offended.

"Because if I were him, I would've never passed up the chance of marrying someone as wonderful as you." Kisara's eyes widened and she stopped. Seto immediately froze, turning his head away from her direction in an attempt to hide his reddened cheeks.

"Do you... really mean that?" Kisara asked in a soft voice. Seto gulped; did this mean she was mad? He knew he shouldn't have said that! Seto bet she was furious with him for even saying that. What was he possibly thinking? Seto nodded in response. Kisara smiled.

"That's... very kind of you." Seto turned back towards her.

"Oh... really?" Kisara nodded. They stood apart from one another, staring into one another's eyes for a few moments. Each second passing like an eternity, as each of their souls were looked into deeply. Kisara could see all the pain he had suffered from his mother's death and Serenity's absence in his eyes, just as Seto could see the fear and disappointment Kisara had felt raising Shu in secret and always having to keep out of sight from the rest of society. Their secrets were out, and it seemed the only one left to uncover was their feelings towards one another.

"Hey you two!" Kisara and Seto broke out of their trances at the same time and looked ahead at Mokuba, "Come on! I think we're here!" Kisara and Seto looked at each other one last time, before Kisara ran ahead and over to where Mokuba was standing. Seto ran after her, and stood behind both of them. Mokuba was looking up at the seemingly deserted palace that stood before him. Mokuba looked over at Kisara. "Is this the place?" Kisara gravely nodded.

"This is it." Kisara began walking into the palace, "Come on, we better hurry." Mokuba and Seto walked in after her. They walked through out the palace, undetected. There were no guards, no traps, nothing. The place was out in the open, anyone could've ambushed Seth's forces and taken them out completely. Mokuba found this to be strange and slightly alarming as Kisara led them through.

"Do you know where we're going?" Mokuba whispered, looking around to see if there were any guards that might pop out at them. Kisara nodded.

"It's here." They stood in front of a tall door that was already slightly ajar. Seto twisted his hands in fists and reached out for the door.

"Wait!" Mokuba whispered, slapping his hand away.

"Mokuba, what is your problem?" Seto said, annoyed.

"You can't just walk in there! You have to make an entrance!" Seto growled.

"Mokuba, this is not the time."

"Come on Nii-sama, just hear my out." Seto rolled his eyes.

Meanwhile, deep within the dark palace, stood Seth. His eyes were gazing out the window, his heart fearing death. Seth's forces had been completely demolished, and defeat crept closer every minute. Seth knew the end was near; there was no way he could win at this point. But like a captain, he would go down with his ship. Seth looked down at the millennium rod in his hand, the tool seeming useless at this point. Seth only wished there was some way that he could fight one more battle, he knew that if he was victorious one more time, maybe he could come back.

But alas, all his men had already fled and he was left with nothing but his dignity. Seth took in a deep breath, "Who am I fooling? It's going to take a miracle to beat the Pharaoh's army..."

"Did I hear someone ask for a miracle?" A loud voice called from behind the door. Seth twisted around, raising his millennium item in his hand. "Heed my words, Seth! The Pharaoh's army is the last thing you'll have to worry about!" Seth gritted his teeth, who did this guy think he is?

"Who are you?" Seth demanded.

"Who am I? Who am I? I am the guardian of lost souls!" The door started creaking as it slowly opened to reveal a being, "I am the powerful, the pleasurable, the indestructible Mokuba!" Seth raised one eyebrow and lowered his millennium item. After a few moments of observing him, Seth started to chuckle.

"The Pharaoh must think highly of himself to send a mere child to come and finish me. Does he have any idea of the power I still possess?" Seth held the millennium item up high in his hand.

"The Pharaoh didn't send me to defeat you. Actually the Pharaoh didn't send us at all..." Seto walked up from behind him and stood in front of Mokuba.

"I'm the one who came here to finish you off." Seth took a step back, looking at Seto.

"You... you look... just like me!" Seth looked down at himself and around at the room. Was this some sort of mind trick? Was he under some kind of spell? "Who-who are you?!" Seto grinned, he liked to confuse his victims before he beat them to a bloody pulp.

"I'm Seto Kaiba." Kisara walked up from behind Mokuba and stood beside him.

"And now I'm on his side." Seth's attention now fell on Kisara.

"Kisara?! What are you doing here? And with HIM??" Kisara put her hands on her hips. "What were you thinking? This man isn't me!"

"Oh believe me, I knew that. He's nothing like you; he actually cares about his son!" Seth turned back towards Seto.

"What is this about you... you... impostor!" Seto walked towards him. Seth took a couple more steps back, holding the millennium item back up and towards Seto. Seto stopped just as he got to a closer distance and stood directly in front of Seth.

"This is about my son. If you hadn't been a greedy bastard, my son would've never been in this mess!"

"What are you talking about? I didn't do anything to your son!" Seto took another step forward, Seth pointed his item towards him. Seto grabbed it and twisted his arm back.

"It has EVERYTHING to do with my son! If you hadn't given your son to Dartz, then destiny would've never led him to want to take mine! You're a monster for even doing such a thing to your son!" Seto thrust his other arm forward and managed to sock a punch right into Seth's face. His head twisted side ways and his priest hat flew off. Seth's eyes widened as he brought his hand up to his face, feeling a bit of blood begin to trickle down to his chin from the edge of his mouth.

"Kisara, how could you be on his side? Look what he has done to me! I am the man you love, he only looks like me!" Kisara's eyes narrowed.

"Believe me, that's the best thing about him. I want nothing more to do with you, Seth, we're over." Mokuba looked from Kisara to Seth and saw his eyes completely darken with fear and desperation. Mokuba put his hand over his mouth.

"Ooooooh, you just got dumped! Dang, I'd hate to be you!"

"And guess what else you're going to be Seth?" Seth looked up at Seto. "You're going to be beaten so hard you won't be able to tell whether your heart or your body hurts more. But if you want a hint, it's going to be your body." Seto sent a kick right into Seth's gut. Seth coughed up some saliva, but looked up.

"We'll see who'll hurt more!" Seth yanked his hand back and out of Seto's hand and then lunged forward with the object in hand. He swung it forward, just as Seto gracefully jumped back and dodged it. Seto tried reaching for Seth's arm in an attempt to take away the rod, but was greeted with one of the item's spikes that sliced down his arm. There was a tear that appeared where blood began to seep from his arm. Mokuba's excitement faded away as his grin melted.

"Oh no! Nii-sama!" Mokuba tried to run towards him, but he was held back. Mokuba turned to see Kisara holding him back. "What are you doing?! I have to help him!"

"This is a battle your brother wants to fight. He would not wish for you to interfere." Mokuba bit his lip as he glanced back at the battle. "He'll be just fine."

On the other side of the room, Seth and Seto continued to battle against one another. More cuts were visible all across Seto's chest and arms, while bruises and scratches were just as visible. Seth was panting, his heart racing. He wouldn't let Seto win. Seth might lose his fight to seize the throne, but he would not fail to defeat the man that had stolen his one true love. Seth lunged forward with all he had, only to be returned with a fly kick to the face. Seth's body twisted to the ground, the millennium rod flew out of his hand and across the floor. Seto grinned.

"You don't look so high and mighty now that you don't have your toy." Seto gripped Seth's cloak in his hands and brought him up to his face. "The next time you make a decision, you better make damn sure it doesn't invovle my kid." Seth looked into Seto's eyes and grinned.

"Heh... so you are me. At least somewhat... I can see the desire for death in your eyes. Not many people have it, only those who have killed." Seth moved his head forward and smacked it right into Seto's forehead. Seto's neck snapped back as his back hit the floor.

"Seto!" Kisara cried with worry, running to Seto's side. Seth pushed himself back to his feet and started running towards the millennium rod that lay on the ground.  
Just as he was about to reach it, Mokuba ran in front of him. Seth skidded to a stop and looked him in the eye.

"I hope you didn't actually think it was going to be that easy," Mokuba said with sarcastic tone.

"And I hope you don't actually mean you're going to fight me." Mokuba brought his fists up and stood in a fighting stance. "Oh, isn't that cute? Fine, you asked for it, boy." Seth launched himself in Mokuba's direction. Mokuba moved his hands in the air light he were some kind of ninja and then karate chopped his side. Seth was almost thrown off balance.

"I got him!" Mokuba cheered. Seth bounced back and tried once more. Mokuba jumped in the air and twisted his leg into Seth's neck, throwing him to the ground. Mokuba landed perfectly balanced on his feet, his eyes staring down at Seth in wonder. A huge smile came across his face, "YES! Strike two for Seth! Man, I am so good at this!" Then there was a sharp pain across his back as he felt a slash go across his spine. Seth had his rod back in his hand and his own grin plastered on his face.

"Too slow." Seth kicked Mokuba in the back and forced him to land on his stomach on the ground. Seth placed his foot on his back and bent forward. He put one of the rod's spikes right next to Mokuba's neck. "Looks like you won't be able to see this copy cat of mine die. No matter, you'll just have to send him my regards in hell." Seth pulled his rod back like it were a baseball bat and prepared to strike just as another punch was thrown at him.

Seth fell on the ground, and his rod flew through the air. A hand reached out and snatched it. Seto walked up to him and grabbed him once more by his cloak and held him up, this time he held the millennium rod against Seth's heart. "Looks like you're the one who'll be going to hell, my friend." Seto pulled the rod back and was ready to stab Seth straight threw his heart-

"STOP!" Seto's arm froze, the blade only inches away from Seth's chest. Seto's head turned to see Kisara holding out her hand. "Don't kill him."

"But... Kisara! He's the reason our sons are-"

"I know." Seto looked from Kisara to Seth and back.

"But why? You said that you guys were... well... over!"

"I know that as well." Kisara walked over to Seto's side and placed her hand on top of his, signaling him to lower the rod. "But I do not believe that killing will stop the killing of our own children. Seth has gotten what he deserved... and now it is time for us to leave." A moan was heard in the backround.

"Awwww, that's no fun!" Mokuba cried in disappointment, "It was just getting good!" Seto sighed and dropped Seth to the ground.

"I suppose your life has been spared... for now. But let me promise you this, if you ever show your face again I won't hesitate to stab you next time." Seto dropped the millennium rod onto the ground beside Seth. Seth sat up and watched Seto walk over to Kisara's side. He held out his hand towards her.

"Kisara... wait!" Seth called, "Please... don't go. I... I'm sorry for this... for everything! Kisara, don't leave me here. I promise to get Shu back, I promise to make things right!" Kisara shook her head, trying to hold back the tears that desperately wanting to surface and stream down her face.

"No... the first promise you made to me seven years ago was your last." Kisara turned and ran out of the room. Seto was once again confused by her actions. Why was she so hurt by this? Did she still have feelings for Seth? No, that couldn't be possible. Seto guessed that the whole situation must've just been too emotional for her to handle. Seto looked over at Mokuba.

"Mokuba... you okay?" Mokuba nodded.

"I'm fine... my back just burns a little." Seto turned Mokuba around and gazed at his back.

"Mokuba! You're bleeding!"

"Woah, really?? Cool!" Seto slapped his forehead.

"Come on Mokuba... we better get out of here and catch up with Kisara." Mokuba and Seto exited the room without a moment to lose. Seth lay on the ground, his hand shifting over the ground and over to his millennium rod. He had the urge to grasp it in his hands, to feel its power surge through him. But all of the sudden, power just didn't seem appealing to Seth. No, it wasn't power he wanted, it was Kisara, and his son. All Seth wanted now was his family back.

Seth turned his head to the side and his eyes looked out the lonely window once more. In the dark clouds that formed overhead, he could almost see his son's smiling face. Seth hoped Shu was doing alright, and that wherever he was, somehow, some way, he was safe and sound.

* * *

It was a deep sea green color. Its scales reflected the light from the torches. Claws were dug deep into the ground. There was a low slithering growl that came from its mouth. The huge reptile eyes gazed down and around the room at Alister, Valon, and Rafael. All three of whom were completely afraid and disgusted by its appearance.

To top it off, it had wings that were barely able to fit in the room along with the snake's huge body. It's long tail curled around its leg. The freakiest part about it was the second head that jut out of it's stomach. There was a loud chuckle.

"It has been summoned... the Great Leviathan has arisen!"

"It's... huge." Was the only thing Rafael managed to say.

"It's... scary." Alister said.

"It's... creepy." Valon added.

"It's... ugly." Valon, Rafael, and Alister looked at Pegasus. "What? It's true!" Dartz was still laughing as he gazed upon the magnificent beast that had taken him so many years to finally call back to the world of the living. His arms were raised in the air, and his eyes looked more crazy than normal. To be honest, Valon, Rafael, and Alister were all getting pretty worried about Dartz.

"Master Dartz... are you alright?" Dartz ceased from laughed and brought his hands down.

"Am I... alright?" Valon instantly regretted asking. There was a creepiness in the air. Dartz twisted around, his face looked crazed and murderous.

"ALRIGHT?! I'VE NEVER BEEN BETTER!" Dartz yelled, his eye twitching. Pegasus blinked.

"Okay... this is getting a little too weird for me, can you just resurrect my wife so I can be on my way?" Dartz walked towards him. Pegasus held up his hands in protest, "I get it, I understand, you need some time with your... uh... pet. I'll just come back-"

"Kill him." The leviathan's head shot forward and swallowed Pegasus whole within seconds. Valon, Alister, and Rafael's mouths were hanging open as they watched the Leviathan eat and swallow Pegasus all in one gulp. Dartz looked more pleased then he had when the Leviathan was first brought to life. "Good Leviathan... now who shall we eat next?" Dartz eyed Kimo.

"Uh... yeah, I'm leaving!" Kimo stated, heading towards the door.

"Kill him as well, Leviathan. I want to be entertained." Just as quickly as the Leviathan had swallowed Pegasus whole, he had done the same to Kimo. Kimo ave one last cry for help before being completely encased within the Leviathan's mouth and eaten. Dartz laughed and laughed, the scene was almost too entertaining for him to watch. Alister, Valon, and Rafael all looked at one another.

"Should we get out of here?"

"Let's!" Just as they had turned to run away, Dartz commanded them to freeze.

"And where might you three be going?" Valon, Rafael, and Alister stopped in mid-run at the sound of Dartz.

"Nowhere...?" Rafael managed to say. Dartz grinned.

"We'll see about that..." And one by one, they cried for help before brutally silenced by death. There was a darkness that swept over earth. The end was near and the power was in Dartz hand.

* * *

**A/N:** _Another day, another chapter, another thing for you readers to go crazy about. I'm guessing you're all happy that SOMETHING ACTUALLY HAPPENED IN THIS CHAPTER(well, just to let you know, I'm happy too. Very happy) You know, I was thinking about it the other day, about how authors usually plan their whole story out and have things happen because they're supposed to happen because they had it planned all along. Thinking back to all those months ago when I first wrote "A Gift From God" I hadn't a clue this was going to turn into a trilogy. Nor did I really think that it would become a 'Steven Series' as some of my friends refer to it. It almost makes me sad to update so quickly, knowing all good things shall come to an end. But let me just tell you guys something; you will not be disappointed. I know you'll be expecting a great ending to such a long series of stories, and man, are you going to get one. I can't wait till you guy read the ending. But anyhow, that's kind of a long way off from here. So I hope you enjoyed this chapter!_

_P.S: Does anyone understand why this story is called "Forget Me Not"? I want to see all of your answers, I'm really interested in what you guys think. So maybe at some point when you're plotting your wonderful response to my chapter, add that in somewhere? That'd be cool. None of you will be stoned if you don't do it, just a thought. Thanks again guys for all your love and support, it gets me through most of my days!_

_P.P.S: I do not own "Heaven", that's DJ Sammy's song_


	17. Chapter 16: Unleash the Beast

xblackrsefirex: I'm so sorry that you're not taking to Mokuba's character, and here I thought I was making him funny. Oh believe me, I enjoy the same thing, almost as much as I enjoy writing it!:D Hahaha, well, thanks for the review, enjoy the chapter!

Kukki Boo: If you thought chapters that began with the same letters were awesome, wait till you get a load of the chapter that rymes! Yeah, I bet you LOVE this chapter, don't you?(which you totally should, cause it's action-packed and kid friendly!-scratch the kid friendly part) Anyhow, I really hope you likethis chapter, cause its cool, I swear! Thanks for the review!

RayneLestare07: YES! Someone caught my Mulan reference! I was beginning to think no one was going to get that. Only a disney freak would be able to pull that off in Yu-Gi-Oh story... or is that the other way around? Well, anyhow, it's always good to discover a new reader! Thank you so much for all your kind words! Oh yes, and believe me, it'll be going out with a bang;) In other words, yes, the ending is going to be amazing. But anyhow, I better be off so you can read the chapter. Once again, thanks for your wonderful review and I'm glad you liked what you've read so far!

Rena Redhead: Now to my final reviewer, Miss Redhead. Doesn't everyone love an awkward conversation? I live for those. Mokuba is possibly one of my favorite characters(well, he kind of is my favorite character) in this story. He's definitely become the funny guy in my story. I don't think I need to explain much else, since you've already read the chapter and all. But still, I LIKE KEEPING YOU IN SUSPENSE. So I'm just going to tell you that the Leviathan lives, Bakura dies, and everyone else blows up. And on that note, thanks for your lovely review! I know you enjoyed the chapter, so I don't need to wish it upon you:D

Chapter 16: Unleash the Beast 

There was a loud roar that came from the pit of the beast's stomach and echoed through the empty palace. It simply brought Dartz joy, his eyes gazing upon his reborn monster. Dartz held out his hand and stroked one of the Leviathan's legs. "Soon... my Leviathan, soon we will take the world into our own hands and mold it into the world it was always meant to be." He looked up into the beast's eyes and smiled. Finally, after so many years of waiting, it was going to happen. The world was simply waiting for his command and all evil would be vanquished. It would be a glorious day indeed.

"So... it looks like it's just you and me now, isn't it?" That voice. It was a voice he had heard one too many times, and he had not wished to hear it again. Dartz turned his body to see Bakura himself walking towards him with a his typical cocky smile. Dartz patted the Leviathan one last time on one of his strong legs and put his full attention on Bakura.

"Not for long, soon it will just be me."

"That so? Don't you remember what I said, Dartz? About both our civilizations back in the day?"

"If you haven't noticed, Bakura, but the Leviathan has been summoned, there's nothing more you can do about it. It's finished for you." Bakura stopped and put his hand up to his chin as he eyed the Leviathan. Its large green eyes squinted down and were staring right back at him. The Leviathan's eyes were full of death and misery, and it was hungry for more. The Leviathan was already imagining Bakura in his mouth, being chewed slowly into pieces, before he was swallowed.

"Now... I may need to re-check my history, but wasn't the great Leviathan the one who killed off practically all of your people?"

"The Leviathan was summoned to destroy all evil and the impurity of mankind!"

"Right... so he did kill everyone, am I correct?" Dartz tightened his fists by his sides.

"I do not have to stand around and listen to you, I have far more important things to take care of. So I'm sorry to say, but this maybe our last encounter, Bakura. Prepare to experience a death like no other!" Bakura crossed his arms and grinned.

"Oh? You think I haven't come prepared?" Bakura walked over to the side, "Forgive my poor manners, but allow me to introduce you to Diabound." There was a rumble, and the ground shook beneath their feet. Coming out from within the shadow was a beast like no other, a being that was half human and half snake. With it's tail prompt beside him, wing spread out from hi back and a large sword was gripped in one of his human hands. Dartz's eyes were fully widened.

"T-That... beast...!"

"You remember Diabound, don't you Dartz?" Dartz turned back towards Bakura.

"Bakura! Diabound is not of this time period, how were you able to summon him to this world?!"

"You could say I've got my connections." Dartz took a couple steps back and gulped.

"B-But... how? The only man who is able to summon such a beast was... Thief Bakura! From ancient times!" Dartz said, "Wait... you mean to tell me... he did this FOR you?"

"Not only that, but he'll be taking care of Kaiba and his little followers as well. It's funny that I formulated a well-thought out plan... one that out ranked yours."

"What are you saying?"

"Oh, it's not what I'm saying, it's what my reincarnation is going to do. You didn't think that Kaiba and Mutou weren't going to find their way out, did you? Its a good thing they'll be dead before they find their way back to this time period." Dartz shook his head. It was going to be all over if he didn't do something soon. Bakura couldn't win, he had come so far, he had waited so long for this moment to come! He wouldn't allow Bakura to take it from him, he simply wouldn't!

"No... no... I can beat him! I can beat you!" Dartz looked back up at the Leviathan that was standing by his side, "I won't let you win, I can defeat you with the might and power of the Great Leviathan!"

"Of course you can, Dartz!" Bakura said sarcastically, "With the heart of the cards, ANYTHING is possible!" Bakura slammed his fist into the palm of his hand. "Alright, enough fooling around. I'm going to finish you."

"We'll see about that... Leviathan! I command you to strike and kill Diabound!" Dartz yelled at the top of his lungs. The Leviathan let out an angry roar as his wings began to flap all around and his jaw opened, revealing his bone-crushing set of teeth. He lunged forward towards Diabound. Diabound looked down at his master, awaiting the order. Bakura's eyes narrowed.

"Diabound, I want you to do whatever it takes to kill the Leviathan." Diabound nodded his head and quickly slithered away from the Leviathan's attack. Diabound might have been half the size of the Levithan, but it also enabled him to dodge his moved much mre easier and attack at a much quicker rate. Diabound flipped out his magnificent sword and struck the Leviathan across its side. The dragon-like creature gave out a cry of pain before jumping back and preparing to strike again.

"Attack him, my great Leviathan! Don't let him best you by use of his size!" Dartz advised. The Leviathan readied his enormous body for another assault, and jumped forward once more. Diabound made his way to jump off to the side, but found something pull him back and throw him to the ground. It was the Leviathan's tail! And now his teeth were making it's way towards Diabound's neck as the Leviathan held down the beast. "We'll see who's beast is greater in power now!"

"I wouldn't be so sure." Diabound twisted his sword out, aimed and struck all with one swoop. Before the Leviathan could break Diabound's neck, it was crying in pain. Diabound pushed itself back into fighting position, throwing the Leviathan's mutilated tail off to the side. The Leviathan was screeching in pain, its eyes staring down at the pool of blood that was being made. "Now Diabound, strike it while it's weak!"

Diabound slithered forward and coiled its body in a way that it could spring into the air towards the Leviathan at full force with the blade guiding his body in front. The Leviathan looked up from its wounds and foresaw Diabound's attack. Taking up one of its large claws, the Leviathan swung its arm side ways and attempted to knock Diabound's sword out of his grasp. Diabound twisted and twirled in the air, managing to dodge the blow and still complete the attack with full force. The sword dug deep into the Leviathan's stomach.

All was quiet for a moment. Dartz was completely in shock, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. The Leviathan nor Diabound made any move, until a green light shot out from the Leviathan's body and blinded everyone in the room. There was one last roar and then the room went back to normal.

Dartz slowly opened his eyes, unsure as to whether the room was still filled with blinding light or not. To his surprise the room had returned to its normal lighting, but something was missing. The Leviathan was gone. There was only one thing left of the Leviathan that lay in the middle of the room. Dartz ran towards it, hoping there was still something left for him to do, one last thing that could possibly bring the Leviathan back. But alas, there was nothing but seven bodies laid out on the ground.

"No..." Dartz looked all around. Alister, Rafael, Valon, Kimo, and Pegasus were sprawled out on the floor, cluttered together. Dartz eyes darted around the floor. He was looking for two beings in particular. To his dismay, his eyes fell upon the two he had used in the ritual. Steven and Shu were laid out on the ground, motionless and seemingly lifeless. "NO!"

"Well, well, well... looks like the Leviathan wasn't that great after all." Dartz twisted around to throw a punch at Bakura, but instead faced his beast hovering over him. The blade was already drawn, and Diabound's target had been found.

"Diabound, destroy him once and for all." Diabound's sword was thrust forward and Dartz was finally silenced. Bakura watched as his body fell to the round, and his soul slowly slipped away to the under world. Bakura looked around at the room, but his attention was mainly on the two boys on the ground. Bakura heard noises from the others as they slowly began to awaken and regain consciousness, but it seemed the two boys remained on the ground showing no signs of life.

Bakura bent down and picked them both up with each arm. He examined them carefully before dropping them to the ground. "Those poor souls... sacrificed for nothing but an ex-king and the faint idea that the world could be molded into a utopia..." Bakura sighed, "Didn't they know that the world was built upon the forces of good and evil, and that no one rid one of the other?"

* * *

"So then I tried to challenge the guy to a penalty game, but then I realized that since you weren't around so that kind of wasn't possible, so I just ended up running for my life," Yugi said, shrugging.

"And where was Joey in all this? Doesn't he usually step in at these moments and defend you?"

"Well, kind of. He was sort of busy that week."

"Busy?" Atem looked surprised, "Doing what? I've never known Joey to be much of a busy person."

"Oh, well that was the week that he discovered Serenity was pregnant with Seto's kid." Atem flipped backwards and onto the ground.

"My Pharaoh, are you alright?!" Shimon asked. Atem jumped back to his feet and looked Yugi into the eyes.

"You mean Serenity and Seto had SEX?!"

"Yeah... didn't we mention the whole reason we were here was because we were trying to save Seto's kid?" Atem ruffled his hair with his hands.

"NO! I believe you completely skipped over that part! Yugi... how did this happen?"

"Well, it's kind of obvious how it happened..." Yugi twiddled his fingers.

"No, no, Yugi, you don't understand. HOOOOOOOW did this happen? Like, how exactly did Seto get Serenity to go out with him? Or, better yet, how did she snap him out of being asexual?"

"Pharaoh! That's so mean!" Mana said.

"I'm sorry Mana, but you have no idea to what lengths this man would go just to keep his ego from deflating!"

"You guys should really lay off Kaiba..." Tea said, whom was sitting nearby but wasn't even looking in their general direction. Yugi and Atem looked at one another and then back at Tea.

"And since when do you stick up for Kaiba? You use to hate him just as much as we did back in the day." Tea was fiddling with a pebble nearby, but at that point had gotten so bored she threw it across the room. Tea sighed.

"I won't deny how I use to feel towards him back then, but now... well... he's always been a good guy on the inside. Deep, deep down on the inside. At least he tries... that's all we can really ask for, isn't it?" Atem and Yugi shrugged. Once again, Tea had succeeded at making them feel like total jerks. Although both of them couldn't lie about Seto's turn around. It seemed that having a child had somehow given him perspective.

"Tea's right... after all, he always has been our friend, even when he was trying to kill us." Yugi laughed. The laughing ceased when there were footsteps heard in the distance. Tea got to her feet, looking more closely at the enterance. A sigh of relief was heard.

"They're back!" She said happily, running over to them. She stopped mid-way when she saw that Kisara had Seto's arm slung over her shoulder, and his body looked battered and bruised. "Oh my god... what happened?" Tea ran over to them. She examined Seto and held out a hand, "Here, let me." Seto turned his head away and held out his hand.

"I don't need your help."

"But Kaiba!" Duke ran over to where they were standing.

"It's good to see you guys are back..." Duke grinned as his eyes fell upon Kisara, his eyebrows shifted up and down, "I was especially worried about you." Seto was about to send a punch right into Duke's face, when he cried out in pain and fell to his knees. Kisara already had her leg pulled back in the air, while Duke had his hands around his crouch area. "Okay... okay... no more flirting..." Duke said before keeling over in pain.

Mana giggled at the funny site, as did Isis. Shada was busy looking around the room. "But wait... wasn't there another person with you?" There was some more foot steps heard as Mokuba was making a grand enterance while twirling into the room. He froze when he noticed everyone staring at him.

"What? It makes things less boring in this time period."

"Mokuba... are you bleeding?"

"What?" Mokuba turned his head and looked down at his back, "Oh yeah! I am, isn't it cool?" Isis ran over to him and turned his body around.

"Let me take a look at that."

"It's really nothing, I barely noticed it."

"You were complaining the whole way there," Seto grumbled.

"Yeah, and YOU were limping the whole time! I swear Nii-sama, you can be such a victim sometimes..." Mokuba stated, crossing his arms and sticking up his nose.

"Look, it's great that we're all back, but we still have a problem," Duke said, after he had finally recovered from Kisara's 'low blow', "We need to find a way out of here to get back to our own time period and save Steven and Shu."

"That's right!" Yugi looked over at Atem, "Atem, do you know of any place where... well, we could possibly jump time periods?" Atem thought for a moment.

"The only place that really comes to mind is that place we once visited when we were exploring the depths of my past. The birth place of the millennium items."

"The Village of the Dead." Shimon said in a dark voice. Duke scratched his head.

"Village of the dead? Sounds inviting," Duke looked over in Shimon's direction and saw that he was being serious, "Oh geez, don't tell me we're actually going to go there!"

"I don't care what it's called, if that's where we have to go to find Steven, that where we're going to go," Seto said, trying to find the strength to stand without the support of Kisara. Kisara nodded in agreement.

"I'm willing to do whatever it takes to save Shu and Steven."

"Well, I guess that means we're going," Tea said.

"And what of Seth?" Mahado stepped out into the room, "Has he surrendered to us?"

"Let's just say he won't be much of a problem..." Seto said. Mahado gave him a stern look.

"That is not the question I was looking for."

"Seth was... taken care of. There is nothing more that can be done," Kisara said in a quick voice, looking away from all eyes. Mahado crossed his arms.

"I suppose that is a good enough answer. Fine. I suppose now we can focus on finding the portal and getting you guys out of here." As everyone began to ready themselves for the journey ahead, Kisara couldn't seem to forget the look on Seth's face before she had left him. The glint in his eyes that let her know he was human, it had somehow returned in that last moment before she had departed from him. Kisara shook her head, this was no time to be thinking of Seth. She had a son to save, and a mission to fulfill.

* * *

The village was just as deserted as the village they were when they first arrived in Egypt. Only this village had an eeriness to it, and death was lurking in every corner. There was a cool mist that floated above the ground, only making it seem more and more like a graveyard. Tea had already latched herself onto Yugi's arm, looking all around to make sure no ghosts were going to pop out at her and kill her. Kisara was walking very close behind Seto as well, there was a snap heard from afar and the whole group stopped. Seto cautiously held out his hand and fastened it around Kisara's. Kisara gave a smalle squeeze as the group continued after a few moments of motionlessness.

"Are we almost there yet?" Yugi whispered to Shimon, who had been leading them to the underground cavern where the items had first been created. "This place is giving me the major creeps."

"Don't worry, it shouldn't be that far off from now," Shimon assured the others. The sacred guardians had also set out to embark on this quest, knowing that their duties always lied with the protection of the Pharaoh. Even Mahado had decided to come along, trying to put aside his indifference towards Seto because of his looks. They were an odd band of fighters, but it was what they had to fight.

Shimon stopped all of the sudden, causing everyone else to stop in their tracks. "It's here." Shimon pointed towards at the ground. As the mist dispersed, a stairway going down underground was revealed.

"So this is really where the portal between time periods is placed?" Shada asked, finding this slightly obvious. Shimon nodded.

"Go down these steps and you will find what you are looking for." The rest of them made their way down the long and epic stairway. The sacred guardians followed close behind. The room finally opened up into an empty room, surrounded by pillars and darkness. Duke looked around and frowned.

"Well, this was a waste of anxiety." Tea screamed causing everyone to jump.

"Tea, what is it?!" Yugi shouted. Tea pointed downward.

"I-It's a ghost!" A thin and elegant-like spirit swooped past them. Looking all around, the gang could see them floating around everywhere. They had neither faces nor features, but a simple pale whiteness. They floated about the intruders, causing Tea to leap into Yugi's arm. "Okay, I want OUT!" She demanded, hiding her face within Yugi's chest.

"Hey guys... is it just me, or is that Bakura kid sitting over there?" Mokuba asked.

"What are you talking about?" Mokuba pointed straight ahead, where there was a little more light. There were lit torches on the wall, and a figure was standing at the opposite side of the room.

"Welcome to my chamber, Pharaoh." Atem glared.

"I know that voice... that isn't Bakura. It's... Thief Bakura!" Mokuba rolled his eyes.

"How creative." Bakura walked towards them.

"Let me take a guess... you're planning on entering the portal, aren't you?"

"And how exactly did you know about this, Bakura?"

"Let's just say I've got my connections." The sacred guardians ran in front of the group and held out their millennium items.

"If it's a fight you want, Bakura, it's a fight you're going to get," Karim said, "And considering there's all of us and only one of you, I'm going to say this won't be much of a problem." Bakura held out his arms and began to bellow a loud laugh.

"Is that really what you think? Why don't you say hello to an old friend of mine?" A loud roar was heard and the ground began to shake as Diabound appeared from behind Bakura. "I'm sure you all remember Diabound." There was a gasp.

"The beast... he has already been summoned?!" Karim gripped his millennium weight.

"No matter... we can still defeat him!" Karim, Shada, Mahado, Mana, and Isis all stood in front with their millennium items readied for battle. Bakura smirked.

"Let the games begin... ATTACK!" Diabound rushed forward towards the five guardians just before they jumped in five different directions, attacking Diabound from each angle. Mokuba watched in awe as beams and swords were flashed through the air, almost unseeable to the eye.

"Woah..." Duke said, also impressed by how quickly the guardians were moving. Although their speed was incredible, it seemed Diabound wasn't getting any weaker. Seto winced, he couldn't take much more of this. There had to be a way to get past Bakura and over to the portal, he couldn't wait any longer. Seto needed to find Steven before it was too late.

Seto released Kisara's hand and raced forward. "Seto! No!" Kisara cried, holding out her arms. Seto bent forward and ran as fast as he could, the pain was almost mind blowing as each step seemed to send a jolt through-out his whole body. But Seto kept his eyes on the portal ahead and kept moving. It wasn't long before Bakura spotted Seto making this manuver.

"Diabound! Attack Kaiba! Don't let him get near the portal!" Bakura commanded. Diabound twisted around and sent a blast of light towards Seto. Mokuba covered his eyes and Kisara cried out for him.

"SETO!" The blast hit him head on and sent him flying to the ground. Kisara shook her head and ran towards him. Bakura caught on just as quickly as she had begun running and signaled Diabound to strike. Once again, another blast was formed in front of Diabound's chest before it was sent flying through the air right at Kisara. This time Atem wasn't going to let another person get hurt. Atem sprinted into the air and sent a counter blast at Diabound. Diabound took up its sword and sliced right through it. With one final swoop, he wacked Atem onto the ground, leaving Kisara defenseless.

Kisara was kneeling beside Seto, her arms helping support Seto's neck. "Seto... are you alright?" She asked, her voice quivering. Seto nodded, wincing in pain from time to time. He placed his hand on her.

"Don't worry about me, you better get out of here before he strikes again." Kisara shook her head.

"I'm not going to leave your side..." Kisara looked towards Diabound, "And I'm not going to let him hurt you AGAIN!" Her eyes began to glow a bright green and the room began to flash on and off. Suddenly the cry of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon was heard, and Seto's strength was suddenly coming back to him. That cry, that was his dragon. Seto looked over at Kisara, whom seemed to have no control over her body anymore, but also seemed to be powering the image of the Blue-Eye right in front of him. Did this mean she had some sort of connection with the dragon?

"This is impossible! How could a mere woman possess such great power?!" Mahado asked, unable to comprehend what he was seeing beore his very eyes. The Blue-Eyes White Dragon, one of the most powerful monsters in the world, and its spirit lay deep within the body of Kisara all along. Kisara held out her hand and indicated where the next attack had to go. The Blue-Eyes opened its jaw and formulated its attack, before sending it through the air right at Diabound. Diabound attempted to slice the blast as it did with Atem's, but it was rendered useless.

Diabound's image melted away right before thier eyes. Now Kisara was looking at Bakura. Bakura was backing away slowly, shaking his head. "Now... don't be hasty here... I never did anything to you!" Kisara walked over to him, her eyes still glowing green.

"I'm tired of being told what to do. It's about time I decided my own destiny." The Blue-Eyes gave one last final cry before swooping down and firing a blast so powerful, the room went all white for a second before returning to normal. Kisara's eyes melted back to their normal blue coloring and the Blue-Eyes had disppeared. Everyone in the room was silent, dumbfounded by what had just happened and unable to understand fully of how it had happened.

"You know... I have no idea how any of that just happened... but I don't think I'm going to say anything," Duke stated, breaking the long and awkward silence. Seto got to his feet, staring at Kisara with bewilderment.

"I had no idea..." Kisara shrugged.

"Neither did I, believe me. As if my life wasn't weird enough." Seto smiled. Kisara ran over to him and hugged him tightly. "I was so worried."

"So was I... until I saw the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, that is. It always comes to my rescue." Kisara smiled back up at him. Seto's face changed as he had come to the realization of what they had been fighting to achieve in the first place. "Come now, we better hurry and get into the portal before anything else jumps at us and stops us."

"Oh man, you're right! RUN!" Mokuba called, leaping forward into the portal. Seto and Kisara followed. As well as Duke and Grandpa. Atem and Yugi nodded at one another.

"After you," Atem said, holding out his hand and allowing Yugi to go in first. But Atem didn't go in right away. His head turned and he smiled in the direction of another man. "You may come as well if you wish." Atem said nothing more and jumped through the portal.

The mysterious man waited in silence before slowly taking his first step and walking through the portal. Although his heart was racing with fear, his head had finally been cleared.

* * *

**A/N:** _So can anyone guess who the 'mysterious man' is? Neither can I! Well, okay, maybe I can, but still! So yeah, I said I was going to take a break from writing, and that lasted only about two days. So, yeah, sorry for all of those that I gave a heart attack to. Oh yes, and I'm sorry this chapter was a bit rushed. I know, I could've made the battle scenes a little more excited, a little more detailed, but when you're at this point in your THIRD story... damn, it's just hard to be detailed, you know? But I swear, it was for a good cause, and it did end up being pretty long, wasn't it? Well, anyway, so next chapter is going to be awesome. Like so awesome you'll forgive me for rushing through this chapter so fast. Although now I'm wondering how many chapters this story is going to be, and trying to formulate a plan in my head of how to make it so that it doesn't end on an odd number... well, that was a sneak peek at Kari's OCD-ness. But anyways, I hope you liked the chapter and that you don't hate me too much for making this so rushed. Believe me guys, you're going to LOVE THE NEXT CHAPTER!(or, well, maybe not) BUT YOU'LL LOVE WHAT COMES AFTER IT!_


	18. Chapter 17: Hold On

Rena Redhead: Wow, I didn't know you thought the last chapter was so good. Gosh, and here I was worrying that I had rushed through things! Yeah, I definitely worry too much. It's good to hear that my story has been memorable; it's been memorable for me too. But you want to know my real goal? To make you cry. This chapter won't, but the next couple chapters might. I wanna see if this story is good enough to jerk your tears. Cause we both know how dramatic writers are; its hard for stories to break down our own walls and make us cry. So I wanna see if I'm skilled enough to do that with you. Rena… you make me want to live again. At this point, I don't want to imagine a world without you(and that's just my creepy stalker side talking, imagine what the rest of me wants to say!) Thank you for everything.

Journey Maker: There you are! I was wondering where you went… Gosh, I feel like a teenaged daughter's parent, always keeping track of where you are. Lol. I'm really interested in hearing what you have to say about this chapter. Don't hold back! Thanks for the review!

Kukki Boo: Lol, I really enjoy your reviews! You're one funny kid, you should PM me sometime, I think I'd have a lot of fun talking with you. Oh man, I love Pokemon. Haha, I'm glad you can see proportion in this story, cause I can't. I feel like it's really random at times, like you don't know where its gonna go next when it comes to seriousness or humor. Oh yes, but you're going to love Grandpa in this chapter! I promise you. Thanks for your lovely review, PM me sometime if you ever think of chatting.

Xblackrosefirex: Oh, my mistake! You just sounded very displeased with Mokuba's character/dialogue the last couple chapters and I thought that meant you didn't like him. Or maybe you just don't like my Mokuba that I've sort of assembled… I don't know. Anyhow, thanks for the review and enjoy the chapter!

P.S: Part of this chapter becomes a song-fic. So the italics are the lyrics to the song. I had planned for this chapter to be partly song-fic for a while, because I felt the song was very fitting for Seto's character. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 17: Hold On

There was a clearing up ahead. Mokuba smiled; finally it was going to be over. As they stepped out of the portal, it appeared they were right where they had started… kind of. They were definitely back in Dartz's lair, which meant they were back in their normal time period. Duke gave a sigh of relief, glad that the whole thing was finally over with.

"Hey guys, over there!" Tea called, pointing to the circle of people up ahead. One of the people that were gathered turned and saw Tea pointing at them.

"Look, its Kaiba and his gang," Valon said, tapping Alister on the shoulder and catching his attention. Alister looked over at them as well and shrugged.

"I'm sure this can only mean good things…"

"Where's Dartz?!" Yugi demanded, stepping forward and standing in a masculine fashion. Rafael scratched his head.

"I'm not sure…"

"What do you mean YOU'RE NOT SURE?? We came all this way to kick his butt!" Seto smacked Yugi across the back of his head.

"It doesn't matter anymore!" Seto glared at Alister, "What we need to know now is where my son is!" Valon looked over his shoulder at Seto, a grave look on his face.

"Um… Kaiba… there's no easy way of saying this…" The circle broke away from where they had been standing and slowly drifted apart. Seto was anxiously looking around to catch site of Steven, when his eyes fell upon a boy lay limp on the ground right before his eyes.

"Oh… no…" Seto said quietly. Kisara walked up beside him and looked down. She covered her mouth as she gasped.

"Shu!" She cried, clutching her mouth tightly, tears forming at the edges of her eyes, "We… were too late…!" Kisara shook her head. "This… no. It can't be…" Seto took a few steps forward. This was it. It was over. Everything they had fought for, everything they had done had been vanquished.

"Steven…" Seto wanted to move closer, but felt so many emotions surging within him that he wasn't sure he could. Seto felt his body grow heavier and heavier until he finally fell to the ground, his eyes remained glued onto the small boy's body that hadn't moved. Seto bent forward and held himself up from the ground by his arms, staring blankly at the ground.

Mokuba walked closer to where Seto was kneeling, but couldn't bear to see the sight of the two children anymore or the condition his brother was in. To see Seto in pain was almost unbearable for Mokuba. Seto shook his head continuously. This wasn't supposed to happen, why did it have to end this way? Seto took up his fist and slammed it to the ground. He had failed.

"Oto… Otou… san…" Seto's senses came back to reality and he looked up. Steven was slowly pushing himself up and onto his feet.

"Steven… ?!" Seto said, getting up as well. He couldn't believe what he was seeing right before his eyes. Steven was… okay, for the most part at least. But at least okay was better than dead. Shu was also coming back to reality as he yawned and sat up. Kisara cheered with delight.

"SHU! MY BABY!" Kisara yelled, running towards her son and scooping him into her arms. She began to bombard him with kisses all over his face and head. "My baby is alive! You're okay! Oh Shu… I was so worried!" Shu giggled as Kisara continued to kiss him.

"Mommy! That tickles! Stop it!" Shu said playfully, but secretly loving every minute of it. His mother's embrace was something he had desired for a long time now. It let him know that things were either okay, or going to be okay. That's how Shu felt in that instant, that things were finally going to be looking up for him.

After a couple minutes of internal rejoicing and multiple signs of affection, Kisara set Shu back down, but kept one hand on his head. "Shu… are you alright? They didn't hurt you, did they, son?" Shu smiled and shook his head.

"Not too badly, Mommy. I'm just fine!" Shu said before laughing. But the laughter was cut short when Shu realized there was another being in the room, one that was a little unfamiliar to the room. Shu stopped and looked over to where the rest of the gang was standing. The mysterious man stepped out from behind the crowd and into broad view. "Father!"

Seth stood, his face was emotionally pained as he looked on. First his eyes met Kisara, whom didn't want to look too long back into his eyes. She didn't want to be reminded of the state of their relationship, she was just happy Shu was alive. Then Seth's eyes fell upon his darling son, which was peering up at him with curiosity.

"Shu… I'm so sorry…" Shu smiled.

"It's okay Father… I forgive you for everything." Seth was a little taken back by his son's quickness to forgive him. Sure he was happy, but what Seth had done, what he had put Shu through… it was almost unspeakable for a father to put their very own son through something like that.

"But…"

"Father, everyone makes mistakes. As long as you realized you've made a mistake and try to change, then anyone should be able to be forgiven." Seth smiled, trying to hold back the tears of joy. Seth held out his arms and tenderly accepted his son's embrace. Kisara was looking into his eyes and smiling, it seemed the pain that had clouded her eyes had disappeared. Her eyes appeared bluer than ever before. Seth, Kisara, and Shu all stood together in silence and in each other's arms.

Meanwhile only a couple feet away, Steven and Seto stood opposite from one another. There was awkwardness between them; neither knew what to say to the other. Seto remembered what had been said the last time they were able to talk, and felt the same pain begin to sting once again. But he couldn't let that cloud his mind, not now, not after finding his son to be alive after nearly thinking otherwise.

"Steven… I…" Seto didn't know what to say. He felt there was nothing that could be said, while at the same time, everything could be said. Seto wasn't sure what instinct to follow through with, but he knew something had to be done. Something had to be said to make things better. Seto took in a deep breath and opened his heart, "Steven, you-"

Steven rushed towards Seto and wrapped his arms tightly around Seto's waist. Seto was completely and utterly confused by this action, but the feelings could not hold back. He squeezed Steven back; letting his emotions rush through his body. It was okay to feel human once and a while, Steven reminded him he was human. That was why Seto needed him the most.

"Steven… how did you forgive me?"

"You're my father… you've loved me since the day I was born and that's all I could ask for!" Steven said cheerfully, before burying his head within Seto's chest lovingly. Seto wanted to protest, he wanted to ask why, and he needed to know how he had finally come to that conclusion. But Seto didn't care, as long as he had his son, as long as Steven was okay, nothing else really mattered.

"I'm glad you feel that way son… because it's the complete and honest truth of things." Seto ran his hands through Steven's hair, holding his fragile body close to his. His son was finally backed in his arms; no one could hurt him now. Steven was safe within Seto's protective hold.

As Steven was holding Seto, he couldn't help but look over at Shu. Shu was standing there, with both his mother and his father, all three loving one another like nothing else in the world could matter as long as they had each other. Steven felt a hint of jealousy, watching Shu from afar with both his mother and his father by his side. That was something Steven would never get to experience his whole life.

"Hey, aren't you guys forgetting someone?" Seto and Steven looked up at Mokuba, who ran over to where they were standing and lifted Steven into the air. "You had us worried sick, kid! We would've risked anything to save you!" Mokuba brought Steven down and hugged him so tightly. "I'm so glad you're okay… I'm not sure what I would've done if anything were to happen to you…" Steven smiled and let his head lay against his uncle's chest.

That was when Steven realized that, although he would never had a mother; he would always have his uncle. His father and his uncle were his one and true family, and he couldn't ask for anything more. They loved one another with all of their hearts, and that is the only element you need to form a real family. Love.

Mokuba set Steven back down onto his feet and stared at him, slightly impressed. "Wow Steven! Is it me, Nii-sama, or does Steven look taller to you?" Seto observed his son and nodded.

"Yep, I think our little man grew while we were gone."

"That would seem pretty reasonable… what took you guys so long?" Steven said half jokingly. Mokuba and Seto looked at one another and sighed.

"You wouldn't believe how many bad guys we had to defeat to get here." Seto shrugged.

"Sadly enough, he's telling the truth. There were so many bad guys to defeat… I'm not even sure we got all of…" Wait. There was something wrong with this picture. Dartz was gone, and Thief Bakura might've been defeated, but that still left one bad guy left.

There was a click of a gun heard from behind Seto. Seto froze. Bakura chuckled.

"Say goodbye, Steven Kaiba." Seto shoved Mokuba to the ground and leapt towards Steven just as the shot was sounded. At first it seemed like everything was going in such slow motion, Mokuba slowly falling through the air and hitting the ground with a bang, Steven turning all around only to see a bullet heading straight for him. And then at some point in time, it all became a blur. Time was zipping by like it was in hyper speed. Steven wasn't sure when time began to process regularly, but it came back pretty soon after he realized he was on the ground. The bullet was out of sight.

Steven shook his head and looked up to see his father hovering over him. Seto was holding up his body by using his arms, like he were doing a push-up. There was a faint smile on the man's face, causing Steven to smile knowing everything was okay.

_When there's nowhere else to run_

"Gosh Otousan… that was a close…" Steven's smile vanished when he saw blood beginning to seep through Seto's shirt. Seto pushed himself off to the side and lay flat on his back on the ground. Steven jumped over to his side and stared down at his father. "No… NO! OTOUSAN!" Seto was coughing a bit, but was trying to bear a smiling face.

_Is there room for one more son?_

"NII-SAMA!" Mokuba yelled, kneeling down on the other side of Seto. Mokuba slammed his fist onto the ground, "Dammit Nii-sama! We were THIS close to making it out of here alive!" Seto wanted to chuckle, but he was in too much pain.

_One more son_

"You are going to make… it out of… here alive…" Mokuba shook his head. "Mokuba… you make sure… to look out for… Steven."

_If you can hold on_

"But you won't…! Nii-sama… you won't!" Seto tried to hold out his hand and pat Mokuba's arm, but he could feel his life slipping away already. Suddenly his vision was becoming very fuzzy and he could feel his eyelids beginning to droop. "No… Nii-sama! Not now!"

_If you can hold on_

"Otousan! I love you! Please don't leave me!"

"I love you both more than anything in the world… please… look out for each… other…"

_Hold on…_

"Come back!" Their cries were heard, but their faces were no longer seen as Seto began to sink slowly into a black hole. At some point he landed on flat ground and looked around at the darkness around him. Far off in the distance, he spotted a light at the end of the tunnel. Seto knew that he wasn't supposed to go towards the light, that the light usually meant death.

_I wanna stand up, I wanna let go_

Seto looked up from where he had fallen and determined there was no way he could possibly climb back out of there. Seto let a lone tear roll down his face. He was letting down Steven. No, not only Steven, but Mokuba as well. As Seto began walking, his loved ones were the only things on his mind. He thought of Mokuba and the way he had always smiled up to Seto that was almost childlike. He thought of Steven, who somehow always managed to brighten his day, even when he had been having the worse.

_I wanna shine on in the hearts of men_

And then he thought of Kisara. What was to happen to Kisara if he were to die? Seto thought about Seth. Would she go back to him? Did Seto and Kisara even had a chance to begin with? Seto didn't want to die. He wanted to be with Kisara. He wanted to be with his family and love, if only for one last time.

_I want a meaning from the back of my broken hand_

But alas, the light was ahead and there was nothing stopping him. He walked through the light and squeezed his eyes closed as the place became obscenely bright. After a few moments, he allowed his eyes to adjust and looked around. There was whiteness, nothing but whiteness. No angels, no fluffy clouds, and no religious figure of any kind. Just plain and simple whiteness.

_Another head aches, another heart breaks_

Seto shook his head. He couldn't believe this. Seto had risked his life and died saving his own child and yet there was still no reward. At the same time, Seto wasn't much of a believer in God or heaven, so he supposed he couldn't be too angry. But at the same time, it also made sense that he wasn't in heaven. Seto bit his fist, thinking about Steven.

_I am so much older than I can take_

Once again, he had succeeded at failing his own son. Now who was going to raise him? Who was going to protect him? Steven had already lost his mother, now what did he have to hold onto? Sure, Mokuba was still there with him, but an uncle could never replace what a father is in the eyes of his boy. Seto couldn't contain his self-hatred, how could he have let this happen?

_And my affection, well it comes and goes_

"Seto…" An echoing angelic voice said from afar. Seto twisted around.

"Who's there?!" Seto looked around. No one. But he could have sworn he had heard a voice calling out to him.

"Seto…" Another echoing voice called, this one was a bit deeper than the first voice that had spoken to him. Seto looked all around him. Was his seeing okay? It didn't appear as though anyone was nearby.

_I need direction to perfection_

"Hello?" Seto called out in a random direction. There was silence. Seto waited to hear the voices again, but none came. There was complete and utter silence. Seto gritted his teeth in anger. "I said, 'HELLO!' Is someone out there?!" Seto yelled. He didn't like the idea of someone playing a trick on him, especially not in the state of mind he was currently in.

_Help me out_

"Seto Kaiba… there is no need to be impatient."

"How do you know my name?" Two figures appeared right before his eyes. Seto's jaw dropped slightly as he set his eyes on a man and a woman standing side by side across from him. The woman was a tall and elegant woman, with long ebony black hair and bright violet eyes. While the man standing beside her was very tall and thin, but had thin dark brown hair and icy blue eyes. He had a small mustache tucked away from underneath his nose, and a pair of glasses on his face.

_Yeah, you know you got to help me out_

"It's been a while… hasn't it, son?" Seto walked towards them and looked them both straight in the eyes. When he had examined them at a much closer range, he finally sighed and let his shoulders hang loose. Seto gave a small, awkward smile.

"Mom… Dad… I don't understand. What are you doing here?" Seto's father looked at him as if the answer was obvious.

_Yeah, oh don't you put me on the blackburner_

"We are not amongst the living, surely you have discovered that." Seto looked down in shame. His mother reached out a hand and placed it on Seto's shoulder.

_You know you got to help me out_

"What troubles you, honey?" Seto's mother said in one of the sweetest of voices. Seto looked up, his mother's face was like one of an angels. If Seto hadn't known any better, seeing her would've made him think he was in heaven.

_And when there's nowhere else to run_

Instead of thinking pleasant thoughts of heaven, his mind seemed to ponder his life and all his accomplishments. The road he had journeyed on, the choices he had made, the things that had lead him to where he was today. Was there a reason things happened the way they did? And if so, why did it have to end like this? Why did he have to die?

_Is there room for one more son?_

Seto's mother's eyes were remained on his face, looking into his eyes intently. "Seto, think not of the mistakes you have made, but of the choices you have to make a better future." Seto looked up.

_These changes ain't changing me_

"You say that so confidently, when in reality I have failed not only my son once again, but my brother as well," Seto looked away once more, "I'm so sorry Mom… I know I promised I'd protect him. And I did as much as I could! But…" Seto winced when he thought about the alleyway and Dartz, the gunshot and Mokuba's near death experience.

_The cold-hearted boy I use to be_

Seto's mother placed her other hand on Seto's shoulder and turned him in a fashion that forced him to look her in the eyes. She was smiling tenderly back down at him, her bright violet eyes gave him hope. "You did the best that you could, and that's all that anyone could ask for…"

_Yeah, you know you got to help me out_

"But even the best wasn't good enough… Steven needs a father, Mom! Not someone who tried his best and failed." Seto's father was the next person to step up to the plate and grasp Seto's attention.

_You, oh don't you put me on the blackburner_

"Seto… I never did forgive myself for leaving you and Mokuba when you were just boys. But everything happens for a reason, and because of my absence, you took over and became the father Mokuba never had." Seto looked at him oddly.

_You know you got to help me out_

"I don't understand what you're trying to say…"

"I'm saying that everyone has a destiny, and everyone has a role they must play in life. There was a reason I died, your mother died, it was so that you could raise Mokuba and learn the ways of fatherhood for your own child." Seto's eyes widened.

_You're gonna bring yourself down_

"You mean… since the very beginning, I was to be Steven's father?" Seto's father smiled.

_Yeah, you're gonna bring yourself down_

"There are no such things as accidents, Seto Kaiba, and none that could be referred to children either." Seto smiled up at his father. Although he had always felt a closer connection to his mother, his father had always come through to him at the best of times. It was something that was admirable.

_Yeah, you're gonna bring yourself down_

Suddenly Seto's body was beginning to feel a bit of lightness to it, and just then he was hoisted off the ground. Seto looked around in surprise, "Hey! Mom! Dad! What's happening?" His mother and father held one another's hand as they watched Seto slowly float above them.

_I got soul, but I'm not a soldier_

"We're using all the power we have left to send you back…"

"Back? But wait! I wasn't ready to go back yet! Mom! Dad! I love you so much… don't leave me again! Not so soon!" Seto's mother reached out and grabbed Seto's hand. She softly kissed his hand and looked back up at Seto.

_I got soul, but I'm not a soldier_

"Promise me that you'll give that kiss to my darling baby boy, Mokuba, would you promise me that one last thing?" Seto sniffled, feeling the emotions rushing back. He slowly nodded, not knowing what the right words to say would be. "And… if you could, Seto, tell him that it's not his fault that I died. Like we told before, everything happens for a reason…"

_Over and in, last call for sin_

Seto nodded slowly as he continued to fly upwards. "I won't forget it, Mom and Dad. I love you both so very much." They both stood still, watching him and smiling up at him. His father waved an extra good bye and called up him.

_While everyone's lost, the battle is won_

"Seto! I always knew you'd make a great father! You've done good so far, don't let me down now!" Was the last thing Seto heard his father say before he had completely lost site of both his parents and began to pass through the different worlds.

_With all these things that I've done_

The next thing Seto knew was that he was on the ground, gathering in a big gasp of air once more before jumping forward. Mokuba and Steven jumped too, in complete astonishment as to what had just happened. They were both staring at him, bewildered.

_All these things that I've done_

"Nii-sama…?" Seto looked over at Mokuba and brought his head close. He gave Mokuba a small kiss on the forehead and patted him on the hand with his palm.

_If you can hold on_

"Mom says hi… and that you didn't kill her." Mokuba stared at Seto intently. After a few moments, he nodded and smiled. Steven was staring up at both of them, unaware of what was going on, but simply happy that his father had somehow come back to life.

_If you can hold on…_

"We were so scared, Otousan!" Seto grinned and looked down. He lifted his hand, and to his surprise, the blood was no longer seeping through his fingers. In fact, he wasn't bleeding at all. Seto sat up and felt his chest. It was completely… healed. His shirt was still reddened and a hole was still turn through, but his body was okay. Seto sighed with relief.

"I'm not sure how… but somehow I'm alive." Seto looked over at Mokuba whom was sitting opposite from Steven, tears were still flowing down his smiling face. Seto reached out and touched Mokuba's hand ever so gently, pulled him close and kissed him on the head. "Mom says it wasn't your fault… she loves you very much."

Steven cocked his head to the side. "What wasn't Mokuba's fault?" Mokuba completely understood what Seto meant and nodded. He wrapped his arms around Seto's neck and hugged him.

"Thank you…" he said softly, no longer trying to hold back tears. After eighteen years, he felt like the burden he had carried ever since he had been an infant, had suddenly been lifted. It was going to be okay. Things were finally going to be okay.

Seto, Mokuba, and Steven stood up beside one another. Yugi and the others were looking on at the happy image, smiling and feeling utter joy that the Kaiba family was finally back together again. Atem turned towards Yugi and the others.

"I believe our time together has run out…" Atem walked towards Seth and placed a hand on his shoulder, "It is about time we part our separate ways and go back to our own time now." Seto's smile disappeared as he looked over at Kisara. He walked over to her and grasped her hand within his.

"Does this mean… you're going with them?" Kisara frowned and looked down at Shu and over at Seth.

"I believe so, Seto Kaiba… ancient Egypt is where I belong… with my family."

"But…" Seto placed his other hand around Kisara's, "Will I ever see you again?" Kisara nodded and patted Seto's hands.

"I have a feeling you'll be seeing me real soon." Seto looked down in sorrow. He had so many questions he wanted to ask her, and so many things he wanted to tell her, but he wasn't sure which to say first or which to simply forget. Kisara grabbed Seto's shirt and pulled him down to her level, kissing him softly on the lips.

At first Seto was utterly frightened, but then his body relaxed and he wrapped his arms around her. The feeling of her lips pressed against hers did not bring about bad memories of the past, nor feelings of guilt, for she was kissing him, and this was the first time in Seto's life that he had been kissing back. When they broke away, Seto smiled. Meanwhile Seth was standing off to the side, glaring at them, and tapping his foot angrily.

"Okay, can we go now?" Seth demanded. Seto stood beside Mokuba and Steven, while they stood opposite from Kisara, Seth, and Shu. Steven and Shu stepped forward at first, looking at one another.

"Well, it was a lot of fun having a twin. Maybe I'll see you around sometime?" Shu asked.

"Sure, if I'm ever in Egypt I'll give you a call." Shu raised one eyebrow.

"A call?"

"Yeah, like call you on the phone?" Shu laughed.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm going to miss you too!" Shu and Steven hugged one last time. Seto and Seth were standing apart, giving one another the typical glares that they usually had plastered on their face.

"You better take good care of Kisara and that kid of yours," Seto said in a low voice, "Or else next time I really will kill you."

"If you ever show your face again in Egypt, I'll be the one doing the killing." They were silent. Then Seth held out a hand, just as Seto did. They shook violently before breaking away and crossing their arms. "Hm. I guess we really are reincarnations. You have the be the only other person I know that's as much of an arrogant ass as I am." Seto smirked.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Seto said, "Although there is one thing that confuses me… How, when you're not being brainwashed, you can stand being civil to Egypt Yugi?" Atem walked over to Seth. Seth nodded and looked back towards Seto.

"The Pharaoh's really not that bad of a guy… maybe if you gave your Yugi a chance, you'd see that too." Seto looked over at Yugi, whose eyes were big with hope and happiness. Little stars could be seen sparkling within his pupils.

"Don't even think about it." The happiness in Yugi's face died in that moment. "I never longer see the similarity between us both." Seth laughed.

"Well, it's about time we left." Seto, Mokuba, and Steven all waved goodbye to Kisara, Seth, Shu, and Atem as they walked through the portal. "So long, friends, and May we meet again someday."

"Bye Atem! Write me when you can!"

"Goodbye!" And like that, they had disappeared, out of their time period, and out of their lives. Seto, Steven, and Mokuba all stood together as a reunited family. After everything they had been through, and all the obstacles they had faced, somehow, in the end, they had succeeded as a family once more.

"Come on… let's go home," Seto said, placing each of his hands on both Mokuba and Steven's shoulders. All three of them walked out of the room together.

"That was EPIC!" Grandpa yelled, before falling to the ground, dead. Tea raised her eyebrows, staring down at his body.

"I didn't know your Grandpa was still here."

"I didn't know he was still alive."

"Okay guys, seriously, can we please just go home before things get any weirder?"

"Yes."

* * *

**A/N:** _And now you're all wondering… "Wow, is that how she's going to end it?" Well, originally, I was. But then I remembered some scenes that had to be put in, some things that had to be said, and some logical explanations to others. So you should be expected at least two or three more chapters out of this story, not to mention the most amazing epilogue anyone had ever read… EVER. So hold onto your socks, cause we got more to come! Thanks again for all your reviews!_

_P.S: Oh yeah, and the song "All These Things That I've Done" is by The Killers. Not me. Although I do love it, but it's not mine._


	19. Chapter 18: God's Greatest Gift

Journey Maker: If you thought THAT chapter was emotional, just wait until you get a load of this chapter! At least I hope it's as emotional as I tried to make it. I mean, last chapter was like a total fail, but somehow people still liked it. I guess that means I still got whatever the crap I have. But anyhow, thanks for the review! Enjoy the chapter!

Kukki Boo: Hey, sorry for not responding to your PM. Weekend was crazy, and the week only made it crazier. I'm sure I made it just as awkward as any normal person could've starting out a conversation. Oh man, I definitely couldn't hold back with that Grandpa scene. What I loved was how serious the story was and then its like "BAM, GRANDPA DEAD" cause I'm simply THAT cool. Anyhow, thanks for the review! Enjoy the chapter!

Rena Redhead: Darn it Rena, don't you people know that its this chapter that's going to be the emotional one?! Not chapter 17?! Geez! I'm just kidding, it's an honor to hear that you were teary eyed, but I'm hoping this one will get some legit tears going(I sound like a child abuser, don't I? Tight.) Yeah, I really had you convinced that I was going to kill them hadn't I?(although I have a feeling you always knew I wasn't, since you're psychic like that) Yes I am a brave writer, I mean, dude, do you know how many characters SHOULD'VE died in this story? Like, EVERY OTHER CHARACTER practically. Hahaha, I guess you could say I'm trying to get the award of 'most random writer ever' but still. It's funny that you say that, considering I wrote the story first and then squeezed in the lyrics, usually people write the lyrics and then have the story, but I did it backwards since I didn't know whether I wanted the song lyrics or not. Kind of cool, but I bet I sound stuck up and cocky(I swear I'm not! Promise!) Have I mentioned how much I miss you? Uh, yeah, I MISS YOU. Come back to me soon! Until then, thanks for the review and enjoy the chapter!

Xblackrosefirex: Hahaha, black eyes and fast balls. That's what makes my job worth while(and the best part is, it's not a job! It's a hobby… an obsessive hobby!) It probably shouldn't be called a hobby, I should call it a plain obsession really. Dude, NO ONE liked Serenity by the end of A Gift From God, nor did Mother, May I? Earn her many points in the popularity department either. I actually lost one reviewer cause she said the story ended poorly and didn't have a happy ending(I think she mentioned wanting Serenity to be Steven's mom again, or something) But anywho, thanks for the review and enjoy the chapter!

AmePiper: I tried to not update as long as I could!(you should've told me when you were coming back from the beach, I would've tried to see if I could wait a bit longer, cause really, I don't want this story to end.) Oh man, when someone tells me my chapters are sexy, I know I've done my job as a writer. Wow, I just looked to see the last chapter you reviewed, and wow, I did update a lot. What is that, like, 4 chapters since the last one you had read? Wow, I'm a crazy person. But yeah, I couldn't understand half of your last review, but that's okay, I'm sure you were tired out of your mind and that's reasonable. I missed writing your review replies, I feel like chapters are incomplete without them. Maybe I should continue to write them even when you're gone. I've thought about it before, but I just blank when I try to think of what I would say… I'm sure that sounds totally lame to you, and I am sorry for that, but yeah. Otherwise, do drop me a PM sometime, and if you can't that's fine. Thanks for the review, I know how much it took you to write it, and I am eternally grateful!

KisaraCrystal: Cool username. Thanks for the review and enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 18: God's Greatest Gift

Steven stood patiently outside of Domino Elementary in the exact same spot he had only a couple months before hand. The bell had just rung, marking the end of the very first day of fourth grade, and yet Seto was nowhere in site. This didn't bother Steven, but he did have something burning inside him that he simply HAD to show his father the moment he came to pick him up. Steven's face lit up at site of the limo pulling up to the curb. Seto opened the door, got out of the car and stood up. He was looking at his watch before he looked up at Steven.

"Steven, sorry I was late. I could've sworn my watch was on time…" Seto noticed Steven's uneasiness, the boy looked as though he was about to explode, "Are you alright?"

"Otousan, you have to come and see something!" Steven yelled.

"See what? Did something dangerous happen?" Seto asked, slightly thrown off by Steven's burst of energy and loudness. Steven immediately dropped his things to the ground and grabbed Seto's hand.

"You have to come with me!"

"What? Why?" Seto looked back at the driver, who shrugged.

"Because you have to meet my teacher!" Seto pulled his hand away, blushing slightly.

"You know how I am… I'm not good with people." Steven shook his head and grabbed Seto's hand once more.

"Oh no you don't… don't use that excuse on me. Otousan, you MUST meet my teacher!" Seto sighed and looked back at the driver.

"I'll be right back…" Seto turned back to Steven, "Alright, lead the way." Without any more hesitation, Steven sped off up the stairs and into the school, with Seto trailing behind trying to keep up with his son's jogging. Steven turned through various hallways until he stopped at the classroom at the very end. Seto scratched his head; his hand was still firmly grasped in Steven's.

Steven knocked on the door. "Come in." A muffled voice said from behind. Steven let go off Seto's hand and opened the door. Seto thought this was his chance now that his hand was free, he could silently, but quickly run off and…

"Otousan, this is my teacher." Seto's body had been completely frozen in time. There she was. He couldn't believe his eyes. It was Kisara. "Ms. Aika, I want you to meet my father." Well… sort of. She was dressed more appropriately for the time period.

The brown peasant dress has disappeared and had been replaced with a nicely ironed white blouse, and a flowing skirt. Not only that, but her incredibly long white hair had neatly been pulling back into a pony tail. She was also wearing small and simply reading glasses, which she then took off when she spotted Seto in the doorway.

"I don't believe it…" She pushed back her chair and stood up, placing her reading glasses on her desk. "It really is you…" Seto was completely stunned. He thought he would've never seen her again. Seto had watched her walk through the portal with Seth. What was she doing here? She walked over to him and placed her hands on her hips.

"Isn't this a great surprise?" She looked down at Steven, "When I saw Steven's last name, I had a hard time believing he was your son. But then when Steven told me that he would introduce me… well, I just had to see it for myself." She placed one hand over her cheek, and the other out at Seto. "It's very nice to meet you… well, I suppose see you again. My name is Kara."

Seto shook her hand back, although he was rather confused by all this. "I don't understand… how…" Seto couldn't find the right words to say, but it seemed she knew all the answers.

"How you know me? Oh, well, you probably don't recall the fact that we went to high school together."

"What?" Now Seto was really lost. Kara nodded.

"Yep, we even had a couple classes together. I sat behind you in Physics, and was your partner one year in Algebra." Seto wasn't sure what Kara was talking about. Was this… as much as Seto would hate to admit that he believed, even the slightest bit, of some of Yugi's ancient Egyptian crap, the only logical conclusion he could come up with was that she must've been a reincarnation of Kisara.

Kara was staring at him, feeling a little odd as Seto was taking a long time figuring this out. Out of nervousness, she continued, "That's okay… not many people remember me. I… didn't do a lot of things that could really make you stand out in high school. There was just the graduation party." Seto's mind snapped back to reality.

"…What?" Steven looked up towards his father; Seto's body had become very tense in almost a split second.

"The graduation party… I remember you went to it. Although I'm sure you left shortly afterwards… considering people ruined it by bringing alcohol and having sex," Kara sighed, "But… yeah. That was my party." She looked over at Seto, whom was still frozen solid in blurred memories of the night Seto and Serenity had… done it. Kara continued, once again, out of awkwardness.

"Gosh… I can't believe it's been almost eight years now since I've seen you. You know, there's something I've always wanted to tell you… and since it's been years since high school, I'm sure it won't matter but…" She looked away, "I kind of use to have the biggest crush on you." Seto's eyes widened.

"You did?" She nodded, and then shrugged.

"I… I don't think I ever truly got over you…" Kara shook her head, "But that's another story…" Then the silence returned, and the awkwardness between the two floated back to the surface, only this time in greater numbers. She glanced back up at Seto; a question flared within her mind. She figured it wouldn't matter, it was only a question, one, she had wanted to ask for a while. "So…" she began, "Seto Kaiba… is there a Mrs. Kaiba?"

Then Seto did something Kara had never seen him do through out all of her years in high school. He smiled. Not only that, but he took up her hand in his. "No… but I'd like you to be." Then Seto leaned in and kissed Kara right on the lips. Kara was completely confused at first, but found that her body melted into his arms as they kissed passionately within a matter of seconds. Steven smiled.

His father had finally found someone to love him the way he had always needed to be loved.

* * *

It was a dark, and yet, plain room. Only two human beings were currently present. One of them was quietly asleep in the bunk bed near the wall, dreaming of things that were far away, but not quite out of reach. While the other was on the other side of the room, with only one tiny lamp on, and a huge text book in front of him. His laptop lay in his lamp, and would be used on and off as the evening made its way into the dawn.

Mokuba ran his hand forcefully through his hair as he tried to do three things at once, while still attempting to learn at the same time. There was some sweat that had already begun its journey down the side of his face. Mokuba moved backwards and pushed his back out of its crouched position. He wiped the sweat from his brow, and looked back down at the document on his laptop.

So much had been done, and yet there was so much more to do. Mokuba sighed. College wasn't as easy as he had thought it was going to be. No, it wasn't very easy at all. Mokuba shook his head and placed his laptop on top of his textbook on his desk, thinking that maybe a break would do him some good before he continued his work until the dawn.

His eyes gazed out the window in front of his desk. The sun was just beginning to set, and a smile crept onto his face. Although his brain felt as though it were about to explode, Mokuba was the kind of person who could stop and still enjoy the world for its beauties. This was something that made him different from his older brother.

Just then, his cell phone began to ring. Mokuba looked down at it, a little surprised to see that it was just the person he had been thinking of. He flipped the phone open and placed it up to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Mokuba. Good, I was hoping to get you," Seto said, "I need your help." Mokuba rolled his eyes. Seto would do this on occasion, although it seemed to occur a lot more since he had started dating Kara. His brother would call Mokuba, asking him favors, assuming Mokuba had time to look over files, and just generally forcing Kaiba Corp. work onto him. But tonight wasn't the night; he had far too many exam papers to complete by morning.

"No, don't even think about it. Look, I'm happy to help out once and a while, but I'm in college now, Seto, I can't be assisting you whenever you find it suitable," Mokuba said, "Although I would be able to help you, had you let me stay home and not go to college." Seto frowned on the other side of the phone.

"Mokuba, you need a college education."

"Why do I have to have one and you don't?"

"Because I do, okay?" Seto sighed, "But that's not the reason I called."

"Okay… then what is it?" Mokuba asked.

"I think I'm sick." Mokuba raised one eyebrow.

"Sick? Um… okay. Why don't you call a doctor then instead of me?"

"Don't you think I already have? I've called nearly every doctor in Domino City! None of them can help me. You were my last resort."

"Gee, thanks bro…" Mokuba said, "Well… what's the matter?"

"Well, my hands get sweaty a lot, and my stomach is always turning, and I usually always feel like throwing up, and I find myself unable to breathe a lot of the time. Oh yeah, and my heart races like I'm having a heart attack."

"When does this happen? Like, in the mornings or after lunch?" Seto thought for a moment.

"It's only when I'm around Kara." Mokuba laughed and slapped his forehead. "What? What are you laughing about?!"

"Nii-sama, you're in love!" Mokuba said between laughs, "You're in love with Kara."

"But… I've never been in love before. Why am I in love?"

"Beats me, I suppose it might be because she's possibly the first woman to help you come to terms with your manhood."

"Mokuba!"

"Okay, I'm sorry… look Seto, they're no explanations as to why people fall in love. They just do." Seto was silent for a while.

"…Okay, so what do I do about it?"

"I haven't the slightest clue. You're on your own with this one, Nii-sama."

"What? But the only reason I called was so you could instruct me with what I should do! You know I'm not good at these things… come on, I know you know what to do."

"Nah, I actually don't. I may know a lot of things, but when it comes to love, it's out of bounds. This is your battle, Nii-sama, now go and fight it." There was a click and the line went flat. Seto glared at the phone before setting it back down at the ground. How pointless… Mokuba hadn't helped him at all. Except for identify what the problem was.

Seto scratched his head; he didn't know he was able to love. At least not love anyone other than Mokuba and Steven. Was this a good thing? Seto wasn't sure… he did believe his younger brother, and his heart had always been telling him something similar, but there was something else he was worried about. Something that mattered most than his heart or what his younger brother had to say.

Seto left his office and slowly made his way down the stairs and into the living room. Kara was seated promptly on her legs, Indian style, while Steven was lying out on the floor on his stomach. A chessboard was in between them, and the pieces were scattered in all places. Seto stood by the stairway, watching from afar the game they were playing that looked like it was about to come to a close.

"Alright, it's your move Steven," Kara said after finishing her turn. Steven pushed himself up with his arms and then placed his knight on another spot. A grin appeared on his face.

"Check and mate." Kara laughed.

"Wow Steven, you make me look like a fool when we play chess. How much do you play this game, again?"

"Not a lot, sometimes me and Mokuba would play but that's it." Kara smiled and ruffled the boy's hair.

"It seems like you're quite the natural, even for a little boy," Kara looked down at her watch and gasp, "Steven! It's almost 8 o'clock and you still haven't done your homework! You better run up to your room and get your stuff if you want my help before I go." Steven stood up.

"Okay, and then will you teach me tomorrow's lesson?"

"Steven, you know I don't want to give you an edge over the rest of the students." Steven frowned.

"But I get SO bored! Why can't you just teach me everything we're gonna learn for the year? I bet I could learn it all this weekend!" Kara patted him on the back and coaxed him to go upstairs.

"Let's focus on learning what we have learned in the past week, and focus on the rest of the year later. Now go on, get your stuff. I'll wait for you here." Steven laughed and nodded, before running off and up the stairs to his room. Kara smiled, that boy was something else. She really enjoyed every moment she could spend with Steven.

"Kara…" Kara twisted around to see Seto step out towards her.

"Oh hey Seto, don't worry, Steven's already getting his stuff. I didn't realize we had been playing for so long… your son is a very smart boy though, it's really quite remarkable what he knows." Kara observed Seto's face and saw a grim look on it. "Is everything alright?" Seto sighed.

"I'm not sure…" Kara sat down on the couch and beckoned Seto to sit beside her. He slowly dragged his feet across the carpet before sitting down next to her.

"What's on your mind?" Seto took a deep breath.

"I think I'm in love with you." Kara's face lit up almost immediately.

"Really? That's great because I-" Seto shook his head.

"No… that's not great. I can't fall in love." Kara raised one eyebrow.

"But… why not?"

"Because I have a job to do… as Steven's parent. He comes before anything… and… I'm not sure how he'd feel if we were to be… anything more than we are." Kara placed her hand on Seto's hand; she looked away from his gaze.

"I… I understand. Even though I wish things could be different, I suppose you do prove a point," Kara put her other hand up to her chest and held it over her heart, "Besides… I would never want Steven thinking I was… replacing anyone." There was silence. Seto knew exactly whom Kara was referring to. Although he hadn't told her many details, Seto had explained to her about Serenity's absence in Steven's life. It was a dark and tragic story, one that she never talked about or tried to.

"You guys shouldn't do that," Seto and Kara looked up at Steven who was standing in front of them, "Otousan… you know how I feel when you do things just for my sake." Seto got off the couch.

"Steven…"

"Otousan, I'm serious. If you and Kara love each other, you should be together," Steven brought both their hands together and let them entangle onto each other, "Caring about my feelings is okay, but I want you to have a chance at happiness too. Why do I deserve to be happy when you're suffering?" Seto opened his mouth to reply, but Steven shook his head. "Otousan, you, of all people, deserve to be happy once and a while. You have spent so much of your life trying to make Mokuba and I happy, that you've always disregarding yourself."

"It's my job as your father, Steven…"

"And it's my job as your son to make sure you don't get carried away with your job." Seto smiled.

"Thanks son… you always know how to tell it to me straight." Seto turned towards Kara, and took up both her hands in his. He took a deep breath. "Kara… will you marry me?" Kara's face lit up once more and her eyes sparkled with joy.

"Yes! I would love to!" Kara leaped forward and wrapped her arms around Seto's neck, kissing him passionately on the lips. Steven nodded with approval; Kara and Seto were meant for one another. There was no doubt about that.

* * *

"Otousan! The recipe doesn't say that's how much you're supposed to put in!" Steven snatched the flour out of Seto's hand and looked back at the paper in his hand. Seto frowned.

"How would you know?" Seto grabbed the flour out of his hands, "You're just a kid!"

"Hey! It's my birthday!" Steven said, crossing his arms, "And besides, I'm turning eight. I'm not a kid anymore." Seto gave a small smile and ruffled Steven's hair.

"I suppose you're right." Steven rolled his eyes.

"Just lemme do it!" Steven tried reaching for the spoon Seto was using to mix the flour in with the other ingredients to make a cake with. Mokuba looked up from one of his college textbooks and sighed.

"Don't you guys think you should wait until Kara gets back? She's the woman, after all." Seto waved the spoon in Mokuba's direction.

"Now, now, Mokuba. That's the kind of talk that all women want you to think. Don't you realize men are able to do just as much as women can?" Mokuba shook his head and went back to studying his textbook. "Oh Mokuba… when will you respect all the men that fought so hard to gain equal rights for you?" Just then there was a knock on the door.

"Right… I'm going to get the door. You can continue trying to… 'gain equality' by baking a terrible cake." Mokuba chuckled and walked over to the door. He opened it and stood back, a little shocked to see who was standing in the doorway. "Joey?" Joey was standing in front of him with a grave look on his face.

"Yeah… is your brother home? Or rather… Steven?" Mokuba nodded and stepped back to allow him to walk into the house.

"Hey Mokuba, what's taking you so-" Seto stood in mid-step as he spotted Joey standing in front of him. "Wheeler? What are you doing here?" Steven ran after him and popped out from behind Seto.

"I'm just here to help…" Joey stepped to the side, and revealed Serenity. Seto's eyes widened, and his hand was placed firmly on Steven's shoulder. Serenity was staring at him with the saddest of eyes, and soon they drifted down to where Steven stood from behind Seto.

"Serenity… what are you doing here?" Seto said, trying to push Steven back, indicating that he wanted Steven to leave the room. Instead Steven broke free of his father's grip and stood beside him, staring at his mother with curious eyes. Serenity's face melted as tears started slowly falling down her cheeks.

"I'm here… to be the mother Steven always deserved." Seto shook his head; he was beginning to get angry. For once things were starting to feel normal again, things were starting to go right. And then Serenity, of all people, shows up. Seto didn't want to go backwards, he had finally felt like life was okay again.

"I told you before, Serenity, you can't be! You simply can't give up a child and then insist on wanting to raise them eight years later! I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave," then Seto eyed Joey, "And you… why are you here? To mock me in my weakness?"

"Kaiba, stop thinking of yourself! I'm only here because Serenity was too afraid to come here all by herself," Joey spat.

"Well, I want you both to leave my property. NOW."

"No!" Serenity yelled, "Every child has a right to have a mother! That is why I have come here… to ask Steven, if he would like me to be his mother." All attention fell onto Steven. Seto shook his head.

"No… don't do this Serenity. Can't you see you've already hurt him enough!? Just leave!"

"I already said no. I can't leave… ever since the day I met Steven, nothing has been the same. Suddenly nothing made sense anymore. My marriage failed, my son was lost, it seemed the only thing I wanted was Steven to be my son. He's my last hope at happiness."

"Don't let Steven be your hope, you were his hope and you failed him! Please, just go." Serenity completely ignored Seto, as she was staring deeply into Steven's eyes. Serenity knelt down in front of Steven and opened her arms.

"Steven… would you like me to be a mother to you? The mother you always wanted?" Steven was standing completely still, a blank look on his face. So many emotions were being dug back up with the site of his mother's face once more. The feelings of abandonment and hate were returning, and yet part of him still believed she was the woman he had dreamed of in his sleep.

This was it. This would've been everything Steven had always wanted. He had dreamed of having a mother who cared and wanted him, and there she was, kneeling before him with open arms. Steven remembered the long journey he had taken across Japan, the people he had met, the things they did, just to meet someone who had always been in the back of his mind ever since he was young. The woman he could call his mother.

And yet… there was something wrong. Somehow… it didn't feel right. Not anymore.

"Steven…?" She asked once more. Steven looked down at the ground and blinked. Then looking up, he shook his head.

"…No…" Darkness washed over her face. Seto, Mokuba, and even Joey were surprised to hear this. "I… don't need you to be my mother… not anymore. I have all the family I could ever want right here… and right now. This is the family I had always dreamed of." Serenity got to her feet, completely horrified.

"…" Serenity couldn't even find the strength to say anything more. She turned and ran out of the house. Joey glanced over at Seto, who gave him an apologetic shrug. Joey ran out of the door and closed it after himself as he ran out after Serenity. All three of them stood there in silence. Mokuba and Seto were staring at Steven, who hadn't moved. His face was pained with sorrow, but there was a strong belief in his heart.

The door opened and Kara walked in with a small bag of groceries in hand. "Hey guys, I bought the…" Kara looked down over at Seto's face, then Steven's, "Oh my… what happened?" Steven ran forward and wrapped his arms around Kara. He buried his head in her stomach and didn't remove it from there. Kara placed the bag down and hugged him back.

"We may not be perfect… we may have our problems… we maybe battered and broken… but…" Steven paused, "We love each other." Seto walked over and placed his hand on Steven's shoulder.

"And that is what makes us a family." Mokuba walked over and placed his hand on Steven's other shoulder.

"Through good times and bad, that is what we'll always remain." Steven looked up at both his father and uncle and smiled.

"I'll never forget that. I'll never ever forget what it means to be a family… and to be happy."

"_Mother-love, God's gift to His children,_

_With heavenly fragrance fraught;_

_The brightest flower in God's garden,_

_His truest forget-me-not."_-Myrtle Fisher Seaverns

* * *

**A/N:** _Wow. That's… that's it. I mean, it's not, but it is at the same time. This is technically the last chapter, but FEAR NOT my forget me not lovers! For an epilogue is coming your way soon… we hope, no I'm kidding, it will be coming(and its going to be awesome!). At the same time, I don't want to write it, merely because I don't want to accept the fact that this wonderful series that has brought me so much joy is coming to an end. I mean, that's practically all of my junior year right here in this three part series. But like all good things, it must come to an end, and as a writer, it would be a crime for me not to give you the epilogue you deserve. It's funny how one story can change your perspective on so many things. But I'll hold back on the mushy stuff, that's for the epilogue's author's note! By the way, prepare for one LONGGGGG epilogue, cause it's gonna be that way. But I promise you, it'll KNOCK your SOCKS OFF! Thanks again guys, I love you all deary and look out for that epilogue coming your way soon!_


	20. Epilogue: The Thrilling Conclusion!

Hey guys! So I had to give you guys some instruction before you head off on your rampage to read this amazing epilogue that has taken me forever to write! Basically every paragraph is about a character or two and what happened to them after this story ended. I've included some references, because I decided it would be fun to include every character that ever appeared in all three of the stories. The references are mainly for the OCs that have appeared over the course of all three of my stories, I felt those characters would be the hardest to remember, considering no one really cared about them to begin with! Anyhow, without further ado, here are your references, and this is your epilogue.

Inrio Asaki:_ Serenity's husband. He appeared in chapters 15, 16, and 17 in "Mother, May I?"_

Shiro Asaki:_ The son of Inrio and Serenity, making him the half brother of Steven. He appeared in chapters 15, 16, and 17 in "Mother, May I?"_

Ms. Darochell:_ The psychotic teacher we all know and hate from the virtual world. She appeared in chapters 8 and 9 in "Forget Me Not"_

Rain:_ One of the students that suffered under Ms. Darochell's rule over the Art 1 class. She was the classmate that sat beside Mokuba, and wanted to become a famous artist. She appeared in chapters 8 and 9 in "Forget Me Not"_

Kori: _Yet another poor soul that was mistreated by Ms. Darochell. She was the classmate that say beside Seto, and longed to see her beloved boyfriend, Richard. She appeared in chapters 8 and 9 in "Forget Me Not"_

Mike: _One of the passengers that was on the tour bus going to Tokyo. He was the token American character that sat next to Steven and liked to yell a lot. He appeared in chapters 7 and 9 in "Mother, May I?"_

Ms. Jakki: _Another passenger that was on the tour bus going to Tokyo. She was the crazy lady that sat next to Seto and was convinced Seto was her son. Even though she had apparently killed her own son a couple years before.(I have no idea why I added that into her back story) She appears in chapter 7 in "Mother, May I?"_

Arisu: _The third passenger that is actually spoken about, who was also present on the tour bus to Tokyo. She was the creepy child molester that was once a wonderful dancer, and somewhere along the line her career had been ruined and she took a fancy in Mokuba. Later on, it's discovered that she was an ex girlfriend to Grandpa… isn't that pleasant to think about? She appeared in chapter 7 in "Mother, May I?"_

Ava: _Otherwise known as "the girl from the karaoke bar." I never gave her a name in the actual story, but I randomly came up with the name Ava as I was writing the epilogue. She was the girl that was in charge of the karaoke contest, and used her sex appeal to woo Mokuba into participating. Possibly one of the best lines in this story was "Sorry kiddo, I'm asexual and far too old for you." I love Seto, what a beast. She appeared in chapter 13 in "Mother, May I?"_

Daiana: _How could you forget the tour guide with the obnoxiously big boobs? I bet you all remember her! She had a major crush on Seto, but it seems her boobs always seemed to ruin the moment for him. Gosh, what an awkward character. I love her all the same though; she makes me laugh. She appeared in chapters 6, 9, and 10 in "Mother, May I?"_

Resuta: _The bus driver that drove the tour bus. He wasn't really important, or played much of a role. I think he only appeared in chapter 6 in "Mother, May I?"_

Megumi: _She appeared in one of Seto's many flashbacks. She was sent to the Kaiba household to live there and take over the role as 'Steven's mother' later it's discovered that not only is she keeping Steven from seeing Seto, but she's also stealing from Seto. She appeared in chapter 8 in "Mother, May I?"_

Ms. Kodai: _She was Steven's kindergarten teacher that appeared in one of Seto's flashbacks. She basically talked down to Seto as if a father couldn't raise a child, and said Steven needed a mother. It's implied that she was involved with sending Megumi to live in the Kaiba household with Seto. She appeared in chapter 7 in "Mother, May I?"_

Bad Guy #1: _He was one of the guys part of the biker gang that hunted down Seto, Steven, and Mokuba. He was the one that handed Seto the gun when Seto thought Steven and Mokuba were dead. He appeared in chapter 14._

Bad Guy #2: _The other bad guy that was Bad Guy #1's partner. He tried to shoot Steven and Mokuba in the alleyway, but ended up getting beat up by Mokuba. What a surprise. He appeared in chapter 14 as well._

…Is it over? Oh thank God! It is over! Alright, now, without further ado, here is the epilogue you've all been waiting for!

Epilogue: The Thrilling Conclusion!

Seto Kaiba went on to expand Kaiba Corp. all over the world in only a couple of years. Although Seto insisted Kara could stay home, she continued to teach children in school. They never bore any children; although Kara had wanted to experience the miracle of birth, it was something Seto couldn't handle. Instead they focused on each other, and needless to say, Seto did find love. Thus proving everyone who thought he would never get a girl wrong. They have been together now for over thirty years.

Mokuba Kaiba graduated from Fukui University as Seto had wanted, but went a different path from what his older brother had thought. Mokuba found his future in television, helping run sitcoms, and eventually becoming the host of his own talk show. Mokuba has had many girlfriends, but has not yet found love. He hopes he will find his soul mate soon, wanting nothing more than to find happiness like every other human being.

Serenity Wheeler was horrified when she found out her son wanted nothing to do with her. Eventually Inrio left Serenity and filed for divorce, unable to handle Serenity's distance and sudden mental instability. After her divorce was final, she left her acting career to live a more simple life, joining a convent in search of God's forgiveness. There is where she remains, even to this day.

Shiro Asaki went on to become a famous writer, publishing six best sellers, and even making an appearance on Mokuba's show. After his mother left, Shiro began writing letters to Steven in hope to become closer to the brother he never had. Steven and Shiro are now closer than ever, and talk once every week. The only subject that refuses to surface in any of their conversations is the topic of Serenity.

Joey Wheeler continued living in the same apartment he had grown up in, and continued working the same job he held as an auto mechanic. Joey was perfectly happy with his life, until Mai developed a gambling problem that would poison their relationship and their marriage. Joey was forced to separate from Mai, but has not yet gathered the courage to finalize the divorce. Joey holds full custody of Melanie in the mean time.

Yugi Mutou remained chief of police for thirty years until his retirement. In the meantime, he had also become a father. Tea gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, whom they named Miho. Tea continued her work as a dance instructor up until the birth of Miho. Miho has brought Tea and Yugi many joys, and many more to come in the future. Although Yugi may never get the chance to say it, Seto was the one that truly helped him gather the courage to become the father he always was, but never knew.

Seth picked up his life right where he had left off before Dartz had arrived and polluted his heart; only this time he revealed to the public his secret love affair. Although the country was against such love, Seth and Kisara stayed together despite it all. Seth married Kisara soon after that, and for the first time, he felt as though his family was complete.

Kisara did, indeed, marry Seth even after all that he had done. Apart of her would always be in love with the man she had been with for seven years, and being married to him only brought her more joy to know it was official. And yet, Kisara still looks up at the sky and wonders what Seto is doing. Although Seth and Seto are reincarnations of each other, there's something about Seto, Seth could never quite give to Kisara. Maybe it had been the way he had held her hand, or the way he had stared into her eyes. But one thing was for sure; Kisara knew she had loved Seto for the way he had raised and loved both his child and his brother.

As for Shu, well, he was just glad everything was back to normal. When Seth had finally come out about Kisara being his lover and newly wed, he had also announced that Shu was his son. After that, Shu was no longer the servant boy, but instead, the Pharaoh's royal helper. Seth fathered Shu both in and outside of the palace from then on, which brought Shu utter joy. Shu missed Steven a lot, and would think back to all the adventures they went on together. It made him smile to know that there was someone out there in some parallel universe that was a true friend indeed.

Bakura didn't have as much luck. After attempting to kill nearly every character in this story, Bakura packed his things and headed for the boarder. That is until he realized there was no boarder, because he was in Japan. Therefore he was later arrested and sent to jail. Since then, Bakura has been plotting his revenge for the day he finally gets out… but every inmate does that, so the authorities, in turn, have learned to ignore it. Then he broke out of jail, and since then he has been proclaimed dead.

Valon, Alister, and Rafael figured it would only make sense to stick together and form the Three Musketeers; an intricate group of actors that star in terrible plays. The group has been together for over ten years now, and promises a good show every time its public discovers a new failed play to exploit. One of the plays they're known for participating in a lot is "Titus Andronicus."

Maximillion Pegasus left his job as president of Industrial Illusions to retire and become a part-time designer of pet clothing. A normal day in the life of Pegasus includes that of many angry cats and dogs that are just plain miserable. Although a gentle one at heart, Pegasus does not seem to realize that half his animals 'fall asleep forever' due to the fact that he dresses them up in ugly clothing and then leave them in a room without food or water. Society hopes that one day Pegasus will realize this, at least before PETA finds him and most likely murders him.

Kimo took over Industrial Illusions right after Pegasus left. Within a couple months, Kimo felt it was time for a change so Industrial Illusions stopped producing trading cards and switched to making and selling hair gel. Kimo believed that it was better for the environment, and wanted to help the world by giving everyone the hair they deserved. It seemed like a good idea; that was until the company completely tanked in a matter of a couple months. It seemed the hair gel the company produced gave people cancer. Kimo is now homeless and lives by a dumpster in California.

Duke Devlin decided to blow this pop stand and take on the dream job he had always wanted; a fashion model. Since then, he has been quite successful with his findings thanks to Pegasus. Duke currently models for companies such as Vogue, Calvin Klein, and Cover Girl. Duke never quite found love, but he did find a passion for fashion. He promises to continue to model until the very day he dies and/or finds something better to do with his time.

Tristan Taylor ran for president of Japan in 2008. Tristan ran against ex-president George W. Bush after he was banished from the Unites States for being a crappy president. Which might explain why Tristan won the election. And possibly why he was shot dead the next day. The case is not yet closed, but Yugi assures the public that their murderer will be found… someday.

Yugi's Grandfather, from what the doctor's reported, died a calm and peaceful death. There was a typical burial ceremony that was held in his honor. Many were invited, and few attended as Grandpa was laid to rest within the ground. On his tomb stone there are words that read, "Here lies the sweet and creepy Solomon Motou; the character that had absolutely no purpose in this story. We will miss him for that incredibly pointless story he once told in Chapter 12 and possibly chuckle at the last words he spoke in Chapter 17. In the end, we shall love him for eternity for giving useless characters hope of actually saying something useful in an epic story." Grandpa died at the age of 100, and it was about time too.

Rebecca Hawkins had been kidnapped after she had completed the task of dropping off Mokuba, Seto, and Steven, as assigned by Darts. But when the fighting was all over, she was released from Dartz's imprisonment and made it her life mission to force Mokuba to fall in love with her. She tried for many years, stalking Mokuba wherever he went and spying on him. Then the law got involved and Rebecca was arrested for breaking and entering and also for being one of the most annoying characters there ever was.

Daiana quit the tour bus business and went into working in retail. After about a year or so, she had finally saved up enough money to get a breast reduction. Daiana felt as though she could finally be normal again with her D cup boobs. Some days her thoughts would drift back to Seto, and that one magical kissed they had shared oh so long ago. Even if he wasn't hers to keep, Daiana hoped for the best for Seto Kaiba, since he had been one of the first human beings to see her as a person.

Resuta quit the tour bus business almost as quickly as Daiana had. After practically running from the law after hiding and covering for Seto when the police were after him, he decided he wanted nothing more to do with the business. Instead he moved to America and became a taxi driver in New York. Resuta took to it quite quickly, finding the city unique and full of excitement. That is where he remains, driving his own taxi, and riding by his own rules.

Mrs. Jakki didn't come to terms with the fact that her real son was dead, still believing Seto was her son. She searched high and low for Seto, wishing she could be reunited with her son. When she was on her way towards Domino City after discovering Seto lived there, she died from a heart attack. It was a death practically meaningless and one that would continue to be as such. Her limp body still lies in the bushes it was pushed into by a bunch of rotten teenagers.

Arisu was happy to help when she ran into Grandpa and told him about Seto and his adventures. Grandpa had promised her he would call the moment he got back from saving the world and his grandson. Arisu waited and waited by the phone for Grandpa's call, and yet, one had never been made. Arisu died as she had lived, alone and unhappy. One might say it's a typical ending for a random generic character.

Mike couldn't bear to see the injustices in Japan. So, like he had in World War II, he decided to fight crime in his own way… by dressing up in tights and speaking with a sketchy voice that sounded as though it could scare a child within a fifty-mile radius. Mike, by day, was nothing more than a crazy veteran with no real purpose whatsoever, but by night, he became… American Man. The super hero that pledges allegiance to the death of millions; most of those millions including criminals, we hope.

Ava stayed with her job at the karaoke bar until the day she met Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John. Otherwise known as the Applauding Apostles. After hearing their songs about love, heart break, and Jesus, she knew she was hooked. She was the official groupie for the Applauding Apostles. But when the band split in 2008, her heart was torn. She ended up following Luke as he went on to lead a solo career; cause his hair was nicer.

Ms. Kodai, being the feminist that she was, quit her job as a kindergarten teacher and decided to go work on an underground project called "Destroy the Males." If someone wasn't able to guess before hand, it would ultimately end with the killing of all males across the globe. It also included the invention of a machine that could make it so that females could reproduce asexually, therefore ridding the need for men in a perfect world of manicures and periods. What a crappy world that would be.

Megumi didn't stay in the Kaiba Household for too long. Seto reported her the minute Steven had told him about what she had been stealing. Megumi stood before the court, but was found not guilty for her crimes. But Seto wasn't too quick to give up the case. He began doing an investigation of his own along side the Domino City police department. That was when police discovered that Megumi had been having an affair with the judge and was put revoked her badge and put into jail. She still has three years to go before she is released.

Gozaburo Kaiba dealt with his defeat in a surprisingly calm way after Seto had escaped. He settled down and organized the group SSSF, otherwise known as the Secret Society of Super Failures. It was much like the mafia, many bad guys gathered from afar to join this elite group of failure villains. The only difference between the mafia and this particular group was that the mafia actually killed people. This group simply discussed what they would do if they had killed their rivals. And so it continued to be the biggest gathering of failures in the entire virtual world.

Noah Kaiba was sent to solitary confinement after Gozaburo got sick of his constant whining and rather high-pitched voice. He was strapped up like any other patient and kept in a room with padded walls, he is expected to remain there for the rest of his life. Gozaburo assures us that he is happy though, that he'll hear giggles from Noah's cell from time to time. Possibly because Noah tends to talk to the air because he believes it to be his best friend by the name of Chuck Norris.

The Big 5 had big dreams for a future, even after the virtual system shut down and the failed attempts of killing Seto and the others. They decided to go down a little less dangerous route by forming a pop sensational boy band. The Big 5 decided to call themselves, 'The Big Bad 5', recording hit singles like "Larger Than Life" and "I Want It That Way." Their first album, "Confessions of a Corporate Business Suit," topped the charts and sold over 12 million copies. They're expected to begin their 2008 tour in the United States in 2009. A tour many fans anticipate!

Bad Guy #1 spent his days in jail on the charges of kidnapping and attempted murder. At first, he was a very angry person and found himself getting into many fights while in the clutches of the law. But then he found God and he became a changed man. He was in prison for about ten years, being released early on account of his good behavior. Since then he has become a missionary, one that has traveled to many countries to spread the word of God.

Bad Guy #2 didn't have as much good fortune as Bad Guy #1. He was placed into jail for the same amount of time as his partner, but took jail time harder. Instead of finding God, he slowly began to slip into a deep, deep depression. One that would plague him for years, and ultimately lead to his suicide only five years into his jail time.

Mana didn't live too long after it was all over. One day she was practicing her spells and magic tricks when a stray bullet came flying through the air. Before she could figure out how it was possible that there was a stray bullet in Ancient Egypt, considering the fact that guns hadn't been invented yet, it struck her right in the head and ultimately killed her. It was a tragic, and yet, peaceful death. One that Mahado wasn't too sad to see. Never the less, she did eventually turn into the Dark Magician Girl. Which wasn't too sad to see either.

Mahado, even though he was still sore about what had happened, eventually learned to accept Seth back into the group of the Sacred Guardians. For a while, it was hard for Mahado to even trust Seth after everything he had done, the damage he had inflicted upon Egypt. But after the reconstruction, and seeing Seth's display of loyalty, it was all in the past once more. Mahado eventually sacrificed his life in order to protect the Pharaoh in the form of the Dark Magician.

Shimon stood by Atem's side as his advisor, and as his friend. Shimon always made sure to give Atem his advice, when needed, or when possible. Eventually he was promoted to head advisor, and would advise all of the sacred guardians when carrying out missions for the Pharaoh. It seemed like a pretty sweet deal, until he was killed unexpectedly for no particular reason. His last words were believed to be, "That was EPIC!" The words of a true hero, and a true friend.

Isis continued to serve her Pharaoh even after everything that had happened. In the meantime, she had also developed a deep and emotional relationship with Mahado. A love that would go unnoticed for many years ahead. But she would ultimately focus her energy and strength in serving her country in the best way she could. Trying to keep peace amongst the people of Egypt.

Karim was the first to accept Seth back into the group. Using the Millennium Scale, he tested Seth to see how much good, if any, outweighed the evil. The good did, in fact, outweigh the evil that once inhabited Seth's heart. Although he was the most useless of the guardians in this story, Karim appeared to be one of the most loyal and dedicated of the guardians. How that's possible, no one is quite sure to this day.

Shada was one of the main guardians who led the effort towards reconstruction. Using his Millennium Key, and the ability to motivate others, Shada encouraged people from all over to help rebuild the home they once knew as Egypt. Shada made sure that citizens were safe, and that construction would go as according to plan. In the end, everything turned out just fine.

Ms. Darochell, sadly enough, decided to retire from teaching. Although causing students pain was what he had lived for nearly all her life, she couldn't help but wonder what else was out there to stab and shade in with pencils. Ms. Darochell left the country and headed for America, where she knew there would be plenty of young artists to torture and kill. Not much has been heard from her since, so we assume that she is doing fairly well and has all the artists she could ever ask for to kill.

Rain's escape from Ms. Darochell's class went on like many of the other survivors' stories. After about a year or so of recuperating from Ms. Darochell's wrath and mental scarring, Rain picked back up her passion for art. She has climbed great mountains, and has found many fortunes along with it. As she was doing this, she happened to run into Bakura as he was making his escape to the border. She fell in love instantly, while he was thrown in jail just as quickly. Rain still writes letters to him, waiting for the day he will be released and they can be happy together.

Kori had her own happy ending to look forward to. For after escaping the clutches of the evil Ms. Darochell, Kori returned to her homeland of Jump City. There she was reunited with her one true love, Richard, whom had waited many years for her return. From what we have heard, she is now happily married and has a beautiful daughter by the name of NightStar. Now she is a successful film director, and has already directed many blockbuster films, and many more to come in the future.

Atem continued to rule Egypt, as destiny had prophesized it to be. After the civil war, Atem mainly focused on rebuilding the broken country into what it once was before the war. It was a period of reconstruction, and one that had only taken a couple years to successfully complete. Egypt was back to it's beautiful self in no time. Things between Seth and himself were quickly forgiven, and all was peaceful in the land of Egypt.

* * *

There was a knock on the door. Steven finished off drying the last dish in his hand before placed it down on the counter and heading towards the door. He took a deep breath before twisting the knob and swinging the door open. A smile appeared on his face as he gazed at the two figures on his doorstep.

"Otousan… Mokuba… it's great seeing you again," Steven said.

"Well don't just stand there telling us how great it is, give your uncle a hug!" Mokuba said, unable to wait for Steven to do it himself. Mokuba stretched out his arms and brought Steven in for a tight hug. "How's my favorite nephew?" Steven laughed.

"I'm doing fine," Steven glanced over at his father, whom no longer towered over him, but was almost equal to himself in height. Seto couldn't help be smile; it amazed to see his son so grown up. Seto opened his arms and pulled Steven in for a tight hug as well.

"You look great, son," Seto said lovingly, unable to comprehend how truly wonderful it was to see Steven again. Steven took a couple steps back and held open the door.

"Please, why don't you come on in? I'm sure the kids will be excited to see you." Mokuba was the first to jump into the house with excitement.

"Oh yeah! Where are those little rascals?" Mokuba said with a grin on his face.

"I'm not sure, I think they might be upstairs," Steven said before yelling, "Seto! Mokuba! Come downstairs to visit with your grandfather and great uncle!" Mokuba turned towards Steven.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me, why exactly did you name them Seto and Mokuba? I mean, you and Shizuka could've at least TRIED to be creative when naming your children." Steven laughed.

"I couldn't help myself. I had to name them after my two greatest heroes." Mokuba gave Steven a playful punch just as the sound of footsteps was heard from above. Slowly they grew louder and louder until two small boys came sprinting down the stairs and towards Mokuba and Seto. One was getting to be quite tall for his age, with light brown hair and sparkling blue eyes, while the other boy was considerably shorter, but with dark red hair and bright brown eyes.

"Grandpa! Uncle!" Seto Jr. cried with excitement as he wrapped his arms around Seto. Mokuba Jr. proceeded to hug Mokuba as best he could. Since he was very tiny, he was only able to really hug Mokuba's leg.

"We've been waiting all day!" Mokuba Jr. said, looking up into Mokuba's face. Seto Jr. tugged on Mokuba's shirtsleeve.

"Uncle! Uncle! You have to come upstairs and see what I drew!" Seto Jr. exclaimed.

"Yeah! Brother made this awesome drawing of a giant robot! Come look!" Mokuba Jr. added, leading Mokuba up the stairs with Seto Jr. leading the way. Seto crossed his arms and nodded.

"That's a good pair of kids you've got there, Steven…"

"Yeah…"

"How old are they now?"

"Seto is seven and Mokuba is five." Seto looked impressed.

"Wow… seven and five… that's amazing. I need to visit you and Shizuka more often. Where is she, by the way?"

"Oh, she's out right now. She'll probably be back later on today. But I was hoping we could all go to the park, I'm sure the boys would love that."

"Sounds good to me."

* * *

Seto and Steven seated themselves on a bench near the park. Mokuba and the two children had already started up a game of tag and were running around the park. Seto smiled; even though Mokuba was over forty years old, he was still a kid inside in some ways. It brought Seto joy knowing that there was a kid side in Mokuba that may never die, a part of him that could still have fun.

Steven was sitting very still, watching his boys play amongst each other as well as Mokuba. His eyes narrowed, keeping a close eye on both his children. The sun was shining brightly over head, and the birds were chirping near by. A tiny robin quickly flew over the playground and back into the safety of the bushes. The weather was uplifting and welcoming.

"What a perfect day," Seto said aloud, stating the very thought that had crossed his mind, "It seems like life is finally going to be-"

"Shizuka's dying." Seto's eyes widened as he turned to look over at Steven.

"…What?"

"She has cancer. She's going to be dead in less than a month." Seto brought his hand up to his face and covered his mouth.

"No… for how long has she…?"

"We just found out. She had been keeping it a secret from me, because she didn't want me to worry. And because she knew there was nothing I could do." Seto looked back towards the two children, still playing happily on the playground.

"Do they know…?" Steven shook his head.

"I haven't told them yet." Seto buried his head in his hands.

"I can't believe this…" Seto said in a soft voice, "Why did this have to happen? Everything was finally going to be okay from now on, that we were going to be able to be happy."

"You shouldn't wish things wouldn't happen just because they're bad, that's just part of life," Steven said calmly. Seto looked over at Steven. Tears were beginning to trickle down from Steven's blue-gray eyes; that seemed to twinkle in the sunlight. Although he was crying, he didn't look upset.

Seto was utterly confused by Steven's reaction. He was crying, and yet he didn't seem sad. No, he didn't seem sad at all. Seto couldn't quite put his finger on it, but it was as if Steven was feeling an emotion that was a complete opposite of sadness. That's when he realized that Steven wasn't crying because he was sad or upset, but out of joy. Seto was about to ask why, when Steven seemed to read Seto's mind just before he asked.

"Shizuka has given me so much… so I cannot be sad. I love her and she had loved me the same. What more could I have possibly asked for?" Steven turned towards Seto. Seto wasn't sure what to say or how to respond. Steven was so wise, wise beyond his years. He had already discovered the meaning of love and loss, possibly without even realizing it.

Seto looked down at the ground in shame. "Steven…" he said lovingly, "You never deserved all the pain you have had to live through all these years. It's not fair that you have to suffer through this again." A hand was placed on Seto's shoulder. Seto looked up to see Steven smiling back at him, the tears has ceased for the moment.

"I've always believed that everything happens for a reason, that events occur the way they do because we each have a set path to follow as we go through life," Steven said, "Sometimes there aren't reasons behind why things happen the way they do. But that shouldn't stop us from moving forward." Seto's eyes widened. As he stared back at his son, he saw a little of himself as a child. Determined to get through the bad times, and come out alive long enough to see the good times. All Seto's life, it had been a struggle for him. And now his very own son was looking at it the same way.

Now they were both smiling. Seto turned back and glanced over at Steven's children, whom were still preoccupied with playing games with Mokuba. Steven wiped away his tears and dried his eyes. He turned back towards his father, the sun was in just the right position that made it seem as though Seto were radiant with light from where Steven was sitting. It was no different from how Steven had always looked up to his father, the light of his life, and a symbol of hope.

"These next couple years without Shizuka are going to be tough…Just Mokuba, Seto, and I… although when I say it aloud, it makes it sound like old times, but deep down I know it's not," Steven took a deep breath, "I'm not sure I can do it. Otousan, when the time came, were you ready to be a father?" Seto turned his head and looked over at Steven.

"No one is ever ready to be a father… but it was the best thing that ever happened to me."

* * *

**A/N:** _So… around chapter fifteen or so, I had sort of a plan in my head of what I might say in the author's note in the epilogue chapter. I thought that I was going to be sad, on the verge of tears, clinging to my readers and fans that have stuck by me for so long that it felt like you all were family. But the truth is… I'm so glad it's finally over. I mean, I didn't feel this way until halfway writing through the epilogue. That's why it took me so long to update, cause not only did I have to do some massive researching and organizing, but somewhere along the line I had completely lost interest in the story itself. You guys should be EXTREMELY happy that this didn't happen 5 chapters ago, or else I could see some people getting really pissed. _

_I was going to do some specific thank you paragraphs and such, but at this point, I just want to get this author's note over with so I can post it up. I was also planning on being all sentimental and crap, but who wants to read that? What I really should be saying, and have always tried to say, is thank you all for reading. Through good times, or bad, through good chapters, and extremely lame chapters, you still believed this story could make it through and it did. Thank you so much, your kind words have brought light to me, even in the darkest of times._

_Last, but not least, I wanted to do one last thing before we all part our separate ways. I wanted to dedicate these 3 stories… to all the fathers. Because the thing about every father is, they can screw up, and they make mistakes, and they may act like total jerks sometimes… but that's only because they love us from the deepest pits of their hearts. _

_That's why I wrote this story. Because no father is perfect; but every father is a gift from God._


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